


When She Was Death

by FyrdracaElfsciene



Series: Evolution of Eternity [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-13
Updated: 2014-02-18
Packaged: 2018-01-12 05:34:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1182520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FyrdracaElfsciene/pseuds/FyrdracaElfsciene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, there was a mysterious woman with all of the Time Vortex and Void in her head. She traversed every universe and time. And, one day, she landed in Venice in her home universe and asked about the Doctor. Minutes later, the Doctor encounters the person she asked. Soon, their worlds will collide, and the results could be perilous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One: Golden Night

Endra was running. Running. Running. Fleeing. She had to get away from the monstrosity chasing her. Why was it doing that anyway?! It's not like she was special or anything; she was just an ordinary young girl. She had done absolutely nothing to enrage it. Or perhaps it was always like this. Endra didn't know and, quite frankly, didn't care. All she wanted was to get away from it. Why was it following her?! She hadn't shot a paintball at its eyestalk like Louise! Why did it follow her?! She had to get away now. But her steps weren't fleet. Help. That's what she needed. She needed help.

Endra Pennington's breathing grew harsher. Each breath rattled through her airways like beads streaming from an injured maraca. She paused for just a moment, her hands resting on her knees as she desperately search for air with her lungs. Each breath made her throat more raw, ache even more than it already was. She didn't think she could run for much longer. She needed help. But there was none to be found. Endra continued, knowing her efforts were vain. She needed some sort of semblance of asylum. As she ran, she did not even dare to dream of contemplating her fate had the creature not have been half dead by the time it spotted her.

Nevertheless, the creature was catching up to her, more quickly now that both her breaths and footfalls were increasingly labored. The creature behind her was screaming at her. Something about extermination and supremacy.

Endra stumbled and fell to the ground, her arms becoming half-buried in the leaves that her legs were in mere moments beforehand. One of her hands had hit something hard, a rock, probably, and she winced, gasping. After moving her hand off the offending object, Endra pushed up with her arms in a desperate attempt to get away from the creature. She was too weak to get up, the adrenaline apparently losing its god will. She cried out despite the tenderness of her throat. She attempted to stand again, but it was of no use. She was to die at the whisk of a giant pepperpot. She would be extermin —

CRACK

There was a large flash of light. The light swirled and twirled, the gold and black contrasting in a magnificent allegro dance. There was something in the center of the dance. It was a person, Endra realized belatedly, a woman. She stared for another second before raising a hand to wipe her eyes. Her remaining arm was not, however, able to support her wait and she collapsed, causing leaves to flutter around her. Endra was prostrate on the ground, her breathing slowly moving her up and down. With a start, she realized that she was breathing a bit less erratically now.

The woman turned to Endra briefly, offering what Endra registered as a grimace. It was supposed to be a smile, but the woman didn't seem the type to smile. "Run!" The word uttered by the peculiar woman echoed in Endra's mind and soul, and her actual voice had an ethereal quality to it. Though, the ethereal quality came as no shock to Endra as the woman's eyes had a golden glow emanating from within their depths. Endra felt that the woman somehow held infinite knowledge and power. Endra shivered, hoping the woman would not be distracted by Endra's rapid breaths.

The creature caught up to them. Endra held her breath, no matter how much she direly needed to breath, while the woman slowly turned towards the creature inch by inch. If Endra had been the creature, she would have been quivering in terror. When the woman gazed upon the creature her gentle gaze morphed into a singing stare. Her face contorted into a loathing snarl that made her seem to be fury incarnate. "Dalek! I name you Dalek as Davros, your creator, dubbed you so very many years ago in a different universe!" Endra glanced between the woman and the predator, her brow raised in confusion. Different universe? Seriously. Endra shook her head disbelievingly.

Endra stared for a moment longer, her breath finally evening out. She realized that the woman had told her to run. Considering the options, Endra determined that she had better heed the woman's word. Endra realized that the woman's gaze must have healed her as she found herself able to push herself up. She fled, her feet scarcely touching the ground as she ran through the forest.

Endra's savior didn't spare the frightened girl a second glance as she ran through the Dalek in front of her screeched to a hasty halt. The woman's faced twisted from its snarling glare to a grotesque smirk.

"YOU ARE THE ABOMINATION MENTIONED IN THE ACCOUNTS OF THE EMPEROR'S DEMISE!" the Dalek screeched, its metallic voice further marring the night. The woman's smirk faltered not.

She drew back the hood of her cloak, the power from her eyes illuminating the night. "Abomination?" she queried, already knowing the answer. ""I named myself the Bad Wolf. I spell death to all those I despise." She opened her palms, and gold and black like cascaded from her fingers. "Dare to defy me."

The Dalek recoiled, its mechanics echoing in the forest in a shrill screech. "YOU CANNOT DESTROY THE DALEKS!" the dalek protested in vain, sounding almost frightened.

The woman shook her head, her lips curving further upwards still. The very bottom of the Dalek began to be torn apart into atoms. Something about the sight gave the woman a strange thrill, one of a mixture of hatred and sadistic joy. Golden and black lights continued to swirl up the Dalek, causing it to scream in pain, the pain of being ripped into atoms while still being alive. It was agony for the Dalek, but the woman enjoyed it. Whatever compassion she had once possessed was gone like a whisper on the wind. The Dalek's scream died as the creature inside stopped existing. At long last, he Dalek completely vanished, and it was a mercy. The woman allowed a bark of hollow laughter to burst forth from her lips.

The woman felt a tug in her gut, indicating her time in that universe, time, and space was over. Slowly, yet at the same time suddenly, the black and golden light swirled around the woman as she gradually dematerialized. The absence of everything enveloped the woman as she passed through the Void.

In the next instant, the scintillating lights flickered around her. What she first registered was that she was surrounded by something decidedly not air. This was realized when she tried to breath it in and found herself inhaling water. She sputtered, but that was particularly unhelpful as she was still underwater. If she didn't do something soon, she would be torn to atoms and reformed. Basically, something similar to regeneration that was decidedly more painful. Reflexes kicked in, and the woman managed to flail her way to the surface before she drowned. Air, and more importantly: oxygen, flowed into her lungs, and she gasped, sucking in as much as she could. She sighed gratefully, her eyes closing slightly, and she almost forgot to tread water.

Before she sunk, however, a man grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into his gondola. The woman was quite glad that her powers were currently dormant, as the man would most likely have incorrectly identified her as a witch and screamed it to the world had she been glowing. And the woman had zero desire to be burnt at the stake. Then again, if her powers had been active, she could've ripped the people who tried to burn her apart atom by atom, limb by limb, and she ould have thought it fun.

She shook her head to free herself from those thoughts. Venice, 1500s. She couldn't go atomizing people willy-nilly. She had to be logical and focus her hateful nature on those who actually deserved it. She glanced up at her rescuer. The man was clearly a gondolier; that fact was clear from both the gondola and his attire. 'Puffy-ish sleeves,' the woman noted sourly, 'entirely impractical.' She wrinkled her nose, making her distaste in the man's fashion sense clear to the world.

Frowning, she realized the man expected her to speak. "Hello, young lad!"

"Young lad?! I am older than you, miss!" the man exclaimed indignantly, his arms folded across his chest and an eyebrow quirked in skepticism.

The woman rolled her dark amber eyes at the man's ignorance. "Nope,. But I don't suppose you've seen a man calling himself the Doctor, have you? And has the world ended recently? Has anything strange occurred?"

The man's eyebrows evened out all the way up his forehead. He shifted uncomfortably, rocking the gondola slightly. "Erm, no. No. And yes."

The woman's eyes brightened considerably, and her lips quirked upwards into a wide grin. "Figured, it was quite obvious really. I'm here, aren't I? Thank you, bloody Time Vortex! But, really, what's happened?"

"My daughter, Isabella. She goes to the Calvierri School, and I went to take her out, and she didn't seem to know me! And the girl who pushed me away! She had fangs!" The man's voice was choked with unshed tears. It would have made almost anyone else at least a little sympathetic, but the woman had long since hardened. The woman did, however, wince just so it appeared she felt at least a bit of sympathy.

"I am... sorry for your loss," the woman managed. "I will do my best to help you and your daughter. What was your name?"She managed a grimace for the man.

"Guido," the man, Guido, replied, his voice quivering slightly. "Will I see you again?"

"If you're very lucky, you'll never see me again," the woman hissed in response, thankful that they were approaching an alleyway. She could make a quick escape and hopefully avoid further explanation.

"Why would that be lucky?" Guido asked, his eyes narrowing slightly. The woman's enigmatic nature was beginning to tire him, as was the human nature of curiosity the woman.

"Because I have many names, not least among them being Bad Wolf and Death," the woman replied. She leapt out of the gondola, causing it to rock violently. Guido quickly followed her out of the boat and onto land. He tied up his gondola. The woman squeezed the water from her hair before drawing up the hood of her black cloak over her raven and blonde hair. She straightened the rest of her outfit, a black leather jacket with golden buttons, a golden undershirt, black leather trousers with a plethora of pockets and golden buttons to keep them closed, and black combat boots. The woman pulled a monocle over one of her eyes. Guido's mouth had dropped open when the woman called herself Death.

"Do you know where Calvierri School is?" Guido stammered.

"No," the woman snorted. "But I have all of the Time Vortex and Void running through my head. I can figure out where one insignificant school is." She didn't notice the condescension in her voice. She nodded her head at the slightly befuddled man.

Guido waved at her, but the woman took no notice. When the woman had fully vanished, Guido leant back against on of the buildings. What he really didn't expect was a young looking man with floppy brown hair wearing a tweed jacket and a bowtie to dash down that alley a few minutes later. What startled him further was bow-tie-boy's inquiry.

"What happened back there with the girls?" furrowing his nonexistant eyebrows.

"My own daughter didn't recognize me, And the girls! They all had fangs! Something awful, something magic, something evil is going on with that school!" Guido replied, still shaken up from his slightly traumatic day. "Who were you again?"

"I'm the Doctor, and thank you for your help," the Doctor responded, grinning. Guido's mouth dropped open.

"There was a woman looking for you. She asked if there was anything odd happening after I rescued her from the canal," Guido stated carefully. "Do you know her?"

"What was her name?" the Doctor asked, running his fingers through his hair. That was one of the few thing that were common between this and his tenth form. The Doctor was curious if the person in question was dimension-canon Rose.

"She said that not least among her names were Bad Wolf and Death," Guido replied dryly. He was not in the least surprised that the two knew each other. This day was just strange. He wouldn't be half surprised if a big storm just came along and killed them all.

The Doctor's heartsbeat fluttered into an anxious allegro. "What did she look like?" Could it be Rose in her proper timeline? Could it really?

"She had blackish blonde hair. She said something about the Time Vortex and Void in her head. She looked as outlandish as you do!" Guido answered with a chuckle at the last statement.

The Doctor's jaw fell slack. "Rose." The name dribbled from his mouth, the pain echoing through his voice, pain that was clearly beyond all reckoning. "Rose!" he cried again, this time more loudly. Guido heard him this time. Before Guido could ask any further questions, however, the Doctor had slammed Guido back against the building more so than he already was none too gently. "Where did she go?! What did you tell her?!"

Guido flinched as his head hit the wall, a pounding suddenly there. He knew the Doctor's firm grip on his arms would bruise later. "To the Calvierri School. I told her what I told you!"

The Doctor tightened his grip on Guido for an instant before her released the man. Guido rubbed his arms and head. The Doctor backed away from Guido until he hit the far side of the alley, his breathing ragged and his eyes glistening slightly.

Reality finally sunk into the Doctor. Rose was back. In his universe. In her correct timeline. And something was terribly wrong with her. The Doctor glanced wildly around the alley if it held the answer to his great question. "Which way?" the Doctor finally managed to grind out.

"To Calvierri School across the canal and to the right," Guido deadpanned, concerned for the Doctor.

As soon as the Doctor had his answer, he was sprinting towards the Calvierri School, and he'd be damned if he let anything stop him.


	2. Chapter Two: It Comes to Dust

The Doctor had arrived at Calvierri School. The school could be considered beautiful, he supposed. He had things to do. Things involving fixing whatever was wrong here and finding Rose. Rose who was asking around for him. His Rose. He had to find her.

He snuck into one of the back entrances of the school using his sonic screwdriver. He climbed down the stairs and found what appeared to be a dormitory. There were about five or so beds, all covered in white linen, and there was a full length mirror hanging between two of them.

The Doctor heard a hissing sound behind him. But there was nothing except himself in the mirror. How could there be something behind him? He turned around to see five girls clothed all in white approaching him.

So this is what Guido had been talking about. This, this was certainly a problem, especially seeing as they were blocking his only escape route. Well, the only escape route that wouldn't force him to find his way through an entire school. A school which was entirely too large for that to be a reasonable option.

Something behind the girls glowed, and all of the girls it hit hissed in pain. The absence of the girls revealed another figure. This figure was wearing a cloak and leather garments, but there was no way the Doctor didn't recognize her.

"Rose!" The Doctor's tone was one that most people reserved for desperate prayer, and perhaps, that was exactly what it was. He felt like his hearts were swelling up in joy, and it was all he could do not to fling himself at Rose.

Rose looked at the Doctor in some manner of masked amusement. "Hello, Theta Sigma," Rose said, her voice having an eery duo-toned-ness to it. The Doctor's mouth fell open. How did Rose know that? And how could she have the Vortex within her without burning?

"Rose, how do you still have the Vortex in your head?" This question was laced with indescribable fear. Fear that Rose was constantly dying. Fear that Rose was in great pain.

"I'm it's host," Rose shrugged. "Before you ask, same with the Void. Now, we run before those girls recover and chase us!" She grabbed the Doctor's hand with one of her own and pulled him along behind her. For good measure, she shined gold light into the room using her free hand.

When they were outside, the Doctor stared at her. "Come on, we have to go find Amy and Rory!" the Doctor cried, tugging Rose along behind him. He didn't even notice that Rose didn't ask who Amy and Rory were; he was too ecstatic to question anything properly.

Amy and the Doctor collided, Rose running past Amy after the Doctor crashed. She skidded to a halt just before she would have crashed into Rory. Unfortunately, Rory crashed into her.

Rose immediately stepped away and dusted herself off, completely ignoring both the Doctor's and Amy's overlapping chatter about Vampires. For these could not be Vampires as true Vampires, the Great Vampires were much more terrifying.

She turned to slip off and solve this threat to history by her lonesome. In fact, she had started to slip off and had made it an overwhelming total of ten steps before a hand caught her arm.

Rose whirled around. The hand that had caught her arm belonged to the Doctor. The Doctor scrutinized her face, trying to discern Rose's motives. "Are you Rose?!" the Doctor demanded, his voice rising in pitch. "The Rose I know wouldn't leave in the middle of here by herself to do who knows what in the middle of a crisis, particularly not after just having found me again." His voice started out booming and angry, but it decrescendo-ed into a hurt whisper by the end. Did Rose no longer care about him?

"The Rose you knew was a lot younger than I am Doctor!" Rose snarled. "And I haven't gone by Rose in a good few years." Gold and black swirled in her eyes, and the Doctor recoiled slightly, though he did not release her.

The Doctor felt his hearts plummet. With a sinking feeling about what the answer would be, the Doctor questioned, "Rose, h-how old are you?"

Rose's eyes flared with gold as she attempted to count the years. "Nine hundred forty seven."

The Doctor's mouth opened slightly and his eyes widened. Then he closed his eyes, despair overtaking him. Rose used this opening to break the Doctor's grasp and dash back towards the Calvierri School.

The Doctor's eyes snapped open as soon as Rose broke his grip. He was just in time to see her disappearing back the way they came. "Rose!" the Doctor cried after her in a pained voice.

Rose didn't even turn around. In fact, she sped up and arrived at the school within minutes. She strode in through the back door. The few girls moved into her way in a futile attempt to stop her.

Rose sneered and allowed black energy to surround her before summoning the golden energy to her hands, which she then stretched out in front of her. The girls cried out again and shielded their eyes, stepping back.

Rose didn't pay attention to the girls' reactions, though. No, she charged through the hallway to the grand entrance, where Rosanna had a throne. Rosanna seemed to sense Rose's presence and motioned for Francesco, the man who appeared to be her son, to stand in front of her throne to monitor Rose.

A smirk twisted its way across Rose's full lips. Her golden and black eyes narrowed, power starting to cloud them. Francesco covered his eyes, but his hand started burning. He cried out, backing out of the light, but it was too late. Francesco emitted one last, long scream that most people would have been surprised didn't shatter glass. Both Rose and the Doctor could have given a list of scientific reasons it couldn't have shattered the glass at least a meter long.

It seemed that horrid note was what drew Amy, Rory, and the Doctor into the room. Both Amy and Rory had changed into Venetian outfits, but the Doctor had not changed. Rose took this to mean he had not actually planned on coming; he just heard a scream and came. Of course, that was only after she had already ruined the Doctor's plans.

"Rose!" the Doctor wailed when he saw what was happening. Rose ignored him and instead opted to turn on Signora Calvierri.

She had drawn more power seemingly out of nowhere by then. The golden light encircled her like an aura, except it was more terrible. And the edges were black, spreading further out from her to touch Signora Rosanna Calvierri.

Calvierri began to turn into golden dust slowly, agonizingly slowly. She hissed in pain and then managed, in a hoarse whisper, to speak. "Why kill the Saturnyne? Why did you destroy our world? The Alliance will find you, Bad Wolf, and you will be lost."

Rose's expression did not fluctuate in the slightest, and she did not deign to respond to Rosanna's last ditch effort to be spared.

The Doctor stared on at this exchange in unrestrained horror. "Rose, stop this!" When he had first realized Rose was back in the universe, the Doctor was excited. He would see his pink and yellow human girl again. But all signs had been pointing to something darker, and this, the Doctor realized, was it. "Stop it, Rose! Just stop! You don't have to do this!"

Rose finished disintegrating the Saturnynes and turned her golden and black gaze on the Doctor. "I must. I always must." She tilted her head back, fully expecting for the multiverse to take her to the next place. But she did not move. More quietly, she wondered aloud. "Why? Why am I still here?"

The Doctor stared at her, his mouth hanging open and his eyes focused on Rose's feet. As disgusted as he was by Rose's actions, the Doctor knew that this woman was still Rose. And if there was one thing the Doctor believed in, it was Rose, and he would heal her even if it were the last thing he would ever do.

"Rose, come with me? With us?" the Doctor asked, his eyes widening, and his face morphing into a pleading expression. He bent down slightly, an expression almost that of surrender.

Rose opened her mouth slightly, surprised. That was not what she had expected. But perhaps. . . .she could. She could disappear at any moment, but she hadn't yet, and the danger had passed. That was not something meant to happen. But she had found another source of danger, the type she always ended up in. Perhaps, maybe, she was meant to travel with the Doctor, the man once she had loved.

After a moment, Rose nodded. And then she nodded more firmly. "Alright." Her voice was strong and confident, if a bit hollow and duo-toned. A moment passed, and Rose's eyes stopped glowing, returning instead to their normal golden black.

Amy and Rory exchanged looks. Why was the Doctor inviting this dangerous, sinister, heartless woman to come with them? Amy looked at the Doctor to protest, but the woman, Rose, had already walked towards the Doctor.

Rose sniffed, her eyes glowing for a brief second as she did so. "The TARDIS is right outside the city?"

The Doctor nodded, and Rose dashed towards the city gates. The Doctor tensed as if to burst into a sprint after her, but a glare from Amy stopped him in his tracks.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, letting her onto the TARDIS?! She killed those vampire-things without case! Can you actually trust her?!" Amy's voice was loud, and in her confused ire, her voice had become more Scottish than usual.

The Doctor sighed, rubbing a hand along his face, up his forehead, and through his hair. "She's Rose. I used to travel with her. . . .She was the most compassionate person I know. I don't know what happened, but I want to fix it."

Amy nodded and looked at Rory, who mirrored her. The Doctor grimaced but quickly twisted it up into a smile, a genuine smile. "Geronimo!" the Doctor cried, racing after Rose. Amy and Rory followed, uneasy, but at the same time, hopeful and optimistic. They only hoped the Doctor's hearts wouldn't be broken.


	3. Chapter Three: Lest it Come True

When Amy, Rory, and the Doctor made it back to the TARDIS, Rose was already leaning back against the console, fiddling with what the Doctor called "blue boringers" (parking brakes was what the rest of the universe called them) with her right hand.

"Don't touch that!" the Doctor exclaimed, panicked about someone touching his TARDIS, even if that person probably knew how to fly the TARDIS at least as well as he himself did. He still didn't like it.

Rose chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Turn them off. The humans should go off and sleep."

Amy planted her hands on her hips. "Oi, we have names, you know. I'm Amy Pond, and this is my fiance, Rory Williams!"

Rose smiled wanly, remembering a time when she had been happy with the Doctor like they were together. "Amelia Jessica Pond and Rory Arthur Williams, the Girl Who Waited and the Last Centurion. But, you are both still human, and you both need sleep. You've been awake for fifteen hours, Amy Pond, and fourteen and a half hours, Rory Williams." Rose's eyes flashed gold as she recited this knowledge that no mortal had told her; indeed, it was the time vortex that told her.

Amy gaped, attempted to speak but ended up stuttering, and decided that staring would work perfectly well, thank you. Rory was content to watch Amy, gauging her reaction. He smiled fondly as his Amy glared at Rose.

The TARDIS shook, and everything went black for Rory, Amy, the Doctor, and Rose.

ΘΣβΩΡΩΑΠ

For Amy and Rory Williams, it had been five years since the Doctor had dropped them up. Five years living in Leadworth, simple, quiet Leadworth. It would have been their dream life had the Doctor never entered their lives. For Rory, it still was his dream life. Amy missed the adventure, however, and, occasionally, Rory would catch her looking for the TARDIS. But, all in all, they were happy; Rory was a proper doctor, Amy was an author, and Amy was pregnant.

It was a bright, sunny morning; in fact, there was scarcely a cloud in sight. It was summer, August, actually, and the temperature was moderate, but the air was still, muggy, suffocating.

But it was not a bad day, on appearances. No, it seemed a right lovely day. And then something utterly extraordinary occurred.

There was a noise as if some large beastie were wheezing; it was the sound of the TARDIS.

At their breakfast table, both Amy and rory's eyes grew to the size of dinner-plates. Rory was out the back door in seconds, arriving at where the TARDIS had landed — Amy's prized flower beds — within seconds.

The Doctor, the tenth form thereof, poked his head out of the TARDIS, and Rose, a human, pink-and-yellow Rose, peered out over the Doctor's pinstriped shoulder. "Hello!" Rose exclaimed, her face almost the epitome of cheeriness.

Rory, however, was not so pleased. "Amy's going to kill you when she sees that you landed on her garden."

Rose laughed, her face nigh glowing, but the Doctor's eyes widened, and he winced. This, naturally, made Rose laugh even harder. "Oi!" the Doctor protested, trying to remain frightened, but Rose's laughter was infectious, and soon, the Doctor joined in, followed by Rory. Then the Doctor realized that someone was missing: Amy. Of course, Amy Williams chose that very instant to arrive, and her hands on her waist.

Both the Doctor and Rose noticed one thing quite different about her: she was pregnant, and she looked about ready to pop. "Blimey!" the Doctor exclaimed, earning another elbowing from Rose. "Have you swallowed a planet or something?!"

Amy glared at the Doctor. "I'm supposed to be this size! I'm having a baby!" Had Amy gotten any redder, she probably would have spontaneously combusted.

The Doctor only smirked. Rose did her best to swallow down a giggle, but the faintest of it still escaped. "When worlds collide!" the Doctor quipped as an afterthought, still grinning more broadly than was most likely healthy.

Amy sent him another glare, huffing and crossing her arms dramatically. Sighing, she decided to clarify what she had meant earlier. "Doctor, I'm pregnant." Rose rolled her eyes; the Doctor probably did know that, but it was also unlikely he had fully processed the information.  
"Congratulations!" Rose exclaimed, pushing past the Doctor to hug Amy. Amy smiled at Rose gratefully. "That's wonderful! Do you know what it's going to be?"

"Yeah, actually," Amy said, now grinning broadly. She was glad that at least one of her old friends was excited for her. "A girl. Her name is Melody."

"Melody Pond-Williams. It's a nice name." Rose grinned as she replied, her entire face lighting up with joy for her friends. "Congratulations!" Rose, still grinning, turned to look at the Doctor, who had just figured out that Amy was pregnant.

"Amy, you're pregnant!" the Doctor exclaimed, his eyes glowing with joy for his two former companions. Rose slapped herself on the forehead. Amy scowled at him, shaking her head before stalking back into her and Rory's house. Rory, the Doctor, and Rose followed.

On the sofa in the living room, where they were all sitting, Rose asked, "Is this a new house? It looks lovely!" Rory and Amy smiled proudly. "Ha! Knew it! Doctor, I won! Ten quid?"

Sighing, the Doctor handed Rose the money. Rose smiled, pleased with her apparent powers of prediction. Amy stared skeptically between the two of them. Rose reached up and pressed a chaste kiss to the Doctor's lips. Both Amy and Rory were surprised to note that the Doctor did not seem in the least bit surprised and that he eagerly returned it.

"So, what do you do around here for entertainment? The town seems rather quiet," the Doctor said, not paying mind to the fact he was being rude; of course, this was the Doctor. He never realized he was being rude. Naturally, this earned him another elbowing.

"We watch the telly, play games, work, normal people stuff that you wouldn't understand," Rory replied, thinking for a second. He felt his ponytail. "Grow a ponytail. And listen to the birds. We didn't have time for that on the TARDIS. Can you hear the birds?" Rory smiled dreamily.

Amy, Rose, and the Doctor thought for a second before realizing that they, too, could hear the birds. The Doctor opened his mouth to say something, but darkness overwhelmed them all more quickly than words could escape his gob.

The birds had done their job.

ΘΣβΩΡΩΑΠ

When they came to, the Doctor was working on the TARDIS, and Rose, the gold-and-black vessel of the time vortex and the void version thereof, was watching him work, occasionally correcting him when he botched the job in a way that could be truly harmful. Not that the Doctor approved of that; no, quite the opposite. He was rather disgruntled over having his piloting corrected. That was not something that was supposed to happen.

Amy and Rory appeared at the top of the stairs, both sporting huge grins on their faces. The Doctor rolled his eyes. Then he thought for a second. "I had a nightmare about you two."

Rose rolled her and muttered, "Rude and not ginger. When you're finally ginger, you've gotten past your rude stage." While the comment alone would sound light at heart, there was a darkness in the tone that was, probably, uncalled for.

The Doctor, though he was not meant to do so, heard what Rose said. "What was that?" the Doctor asked, thinking he heard that he would be ginger. He grinned. Then the other part of what Rose said was processed by his brain. "Oi!"

Rose smirked, turning to face Amy and Rory. "Well, I had a dream about you two as well, but I would most certainly not call it a nightmare. You were married. Amy was pregnant. The only nightmarish part was Rory's ponytail!"

The Doctor chuckled, but Amy and Rory looked at each other. Amy was the first to speak in response. "I think we all had the same dream," Amy stated, the Scottish accent in her voice more clear as she let a little bit of her nervousness infiltrate her voice.

"How could we all have the same dream?" Rory asked, frowning in confusion. "It just doesn't make sense?" He let his mouth hang the slightest bit open as he looked between the Doctor and Rose for an answer to his question.

"Forget about it; it's not important. Just a psychic episode; we probably just jumped a time track or something," the Doctor responded in his most comforting tone. He offered both Amy and Rory an apologetic smile.

Rose frowned, however. Something just seemed. . .off, somehow. Like her sense were off. Time, yes, that was it! She couldn't see the time vortex, her guiding light. Though, it was what had led her to this. She couldn't sense time, which meant this was still a dream! She was about to vocalize this thought when a short, stubby man with a bow tie and somewhat auburn-ish hair materialized in the room.

"Well, noticed, Wolf," the man cooed, earning him a sharp glare from both the Doctor and Rose. "As for the rest of you, this could take a while. Thick, all of you! And I had heard such nice things! The Doctor, Last of the Time Lords, the Lonely God, the Oncoming Storm, Him in the Bow-tie."

'This is my domain, Wolf,' the Dream Lord said, speaking into Rose's mind. Rose flinched, her eyes widening in dismay. The Doctor noticed and looked at Rose in concern, but when Rose didn't offer an explanation, he looked away. Rose almost recognized the presence in her mind. Almost. 'You cannot speak the truth of what is going on here. Am I understood, Wolf?'

Rose stared at the figure, her eyes narrowed. She could feel the man's name on the tip of her tongue. But she could not find the name. Who was this man? Rose realized that the man was glaring at her, so she responded. 'Yes.'

'Good,' the man stated, his telepathic voice sounding too smug for Rose's tastes. Rose's lip curled back as she made as face to communicate her emotions as best she could without words. It seemed that no one except the Dream Lord, the cause of the problem, noticed.

"I'm going to offer you a choice," the Dream Lord declared, a sadistic grin on his face. "Two realities, Doctor. Each with values of their own. Your choice." The Dream Lord grinned in a way that would make a clown look like the epitome of not cheesy.

"Who are you?" Amy demanded, her countenance more angry than it should have been. If anyone should have been angry, it would have been Rose and then the Doctor. Even so, Amy was angry that someone had apparently given them a choice between what was true and what was false, and judging by the tone, they wouldn't like either.

"He calls himself a Time Lord. Well, if he's the Time Lord, Amy, then I am the Dream Lord," the Dream Lord stated, grinning. The Doctor shivered. Rose looked at him in surprise. Why was the doctor showing fear? He never did that ever, except for now, apparently. "Don't you hear the birds?"

ΘΣβΩΡΩΑΠ

Rory, Amy, Rose, and the Doctor woke up on the couch in Upper Leadworth. The Doctor was leaning over, and his head was in Rose's lap. Rose was folded over in half; well, as close as she could get to it with the Doctor in the way. The Doctor turned his head in a somewhat futile attempt to look up at Rose's face. He did, however, get an eyeful of a different part of Rose's anatomy. "Hello." The Doctor's voice was muffled by the not-quite-offending part of Rose's anatomy.

"Hello," Rose returned, blushing profusely. The Doctor, of course, was also blushing. Rose wished that this were truly reality. It was so much more pleasant than the truth, and quite frankly, it was quite enjoyable. Most of all, they were happy it was all a lie cleverly crafted by the Dream Lord, but Rose was the only one who knew that.

"How do we know which reality to choose?" Amy asked, glancing at Rory, who nodded his affirmation. Rose sat up and readjusted her shirt. The Doctor also sat up, and he ran his fingers through his gravity-defiant hair.

"There is no right or wrong answer," the Doctor said, trailing off. He frowned, biting his lip. "Just we what we want." Rose wanted, more than anything, to be able to tell the Doctor, Amy, and Rory the truth. She wanted to stop playing along, to stop doing what the Dream Lord's fantasy demanded. Not that she minded too terribly much, but she wanted to be in control of more than just the small responses such as blushing and the likes. She had not felt this powerless in hundreds of years; she couldn't resort to using her powers.

"I like this reality," Rory declared, looking at Amy to make sure she was not upset by this declaration.

Amy nodded, patting her stomach. She really did like being pregnant, and she figured she would love being a mother as well. She smiled fondly. "I like this reality too." The shared a soft smiled, and Rory gently kissed Amy's lips.

Rose and the Doctor both averted their eyes, which meant they stared into each other's eyes. After a couple more moments, the Doctor coughed (which may have sounded a bit more like he was either choking or gagging).

Amy and Rory reluctantly released one another.

"How about one more trip in the TARDIS to the Sisters of the Infinite Schism? They have the greatest hospital in the universe." The Doctor's tone was definitely hopeful, and both Rose and the Doctor smiled in hopes of convincing Rory and Amy.

Amy and Rory nodded, understanding that the purpose of the proposed trip was to help Amy not experience quite as much pain and be in a lot less danger. How could either Amy or Rory refuse?

In a small mob, the four went back to the TARDIS. The Doctor opened the doors, and four gasps echoed in the small box. The TARDIS, the last TARDIS, was gone; the police box was only a police box, nothing more.

"I thought you would have realized sooner, but apparently not." The voice was now familiar to all four beings, and they all whirled around. A familiar figure stood behind them.

"What did you do to her?!" The Doctor's voice was a growl and a shout somehow combined into a single entity. The glare he gave the Dream Lord contained the full force of the Oncoming Storm, and probably contained more than that even.

"Question is, would you rather be happy here but without the TARDIS or have the TARDIS but not have the people in a way that makes you happy," the Dream Lord sneered, and the Doctor paled. Rose looked up at him in concern. The Doctor was panicking, and that could never ever be good.

Rose hoped the Doctor would choose the life on the TARDIS, the life that much more closely resembled real life, but she knew that the Doctor would choose this life. It was no contest, really. The Doctor had his pink and yellow human, and with her, he'd be happy. There was no reason for him to choose the other life. Rose wasn't sure why that made her chest hurt like she couldn't breathe, but it did anyway. She hadn't known the Doctor for most of her life. She hadn't looked for him; why did this man's opinion matter to her at all? There was no reason for it to do so, and she didn't want to ponder about why she might even care.

"This reality," the Doctor snapped, still fixing his glare on the Dream Lord. "I choose this reality."

The Dream Lord grinned and snapped his fingers. The world faded from all of their view.

ΘΣβΩΡΩΑΠ

When Rose woke up, she immediately felt freedom that had not been there in the Dream Lord's false realities. She grinned, happy to be in control and happy to feel the Time Vortex and Void within her anew. She stretched, and then she allowed power to fill her, the ebony and golden light spilling from her.

She pulled herself out of the service passageway she had fallen into. When she got up, she discovered that none of the others had fallen through service hatches. She huffed; of course she was the only one.

The Doctor seemed to register her appearance even though his back was to her. "Rose, I . . .I'm sorry." His voice sounded oddly strained as if it were plagued by a peculiar mixture of guilt and probably was, they all knew.

Rose frowned, her brows furrowed. Why would the Doctor be apologizing? "What is there to be sorry for?" Even to her own ears, her voice sounded hurt and dejected. Rose was not entirely sure why other than the fact that the man she had once loved had decided he'd rather have past her back instead of her current form.

"Rose —" the Doctor began, but Rose had already started down the hallway.

Rose didn't bother to turn around at the sound of the Doctor's voice. "Goodnight! Amy, Rory, you should probably get that sleep!" While her voice sounded cheerful if one wasn't really paying attention, it was definitely forced cheeriness. Rose all but sprinted to the library, where she hid in the back and reread one of her favorite books.

The Doctor winced when he heard Rose pretending that nothing was wrong. Traditionally, that was his job. He had messed things up tremendously without even realizing it. He had wanted the life with Rose, the life he had never had, the life from his fantasies. But choosing that had come with a price, and that price was Rose's happiness. Shame washed over the Doctor, and a solitary tear trailed down his cheek.


	4. Chapter Four: Gift of the Past

Morning arrived faster than anyone would have expected it to. Light flooded the library, and Rose blinked to clear the bleariness from her vision. all in all, she was surprised. She hadn't slept in ages; it was impossible for her to have done so. Whenever she averted a crisis, she automatically ended up somewhere else. She could tell that the sleep did her some good, however. She sighed, stretching.

When she finished stretching, a figure loomed overhead, his hands stuffed into the very depths of his pockets. Rose swung her legs around so she was sitting upright before she acknowledged the Doctor's presence. "Hey."

"Hi," the Doctor replied, his voice soft. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, the sort of thing that a younger version of Rose thought to be endearing. "Rose, I, erm, wanted to talk."

Rose tilted her head slightly to the left. A gesture of curiosity, the Doctor noted, was hopefully a good sign. "Talk? What about?"

The Doctor gestured to the seat next to her in order to ask if he was allowed to sit down. Rose shrugged, so he sat down. The only problem with this was how close he sat to Rose. Rose inched away slowly, watching the Doctor to see what he would do. He just sighed, and to Rose, the sigh sounded resigned and sad. Rose bit her lip lightly, just enough so she felt it but the Doctor didn't see it.

"Rose, I'm sorry." The Doctor cupped Rose's cheek and turned her head so that she could see his face.

"About what happened? Of course you would choose the reality that makes you happier. You'd be a fool if you didn't. You had no way of knowing that it was the other one that more closely resembled reality." Rose stared at the doctor, her golden-black eyes meeting the Doctor's own green eyes.

The Doctor shifted guiltily in his seat. "But I still hurt you, Rose. I still chose a past version of you over current you. I remember how I felt after I regenerated for the ninth time and you asked me to change back. I am so sorry that happened to you."

Roe could tell the Doctor was being honest and honestly felt that guilt. But still, the full explanation was nice to hear. Ever so slightly, it lifted her spirits up."Thanks, but really, there is nothing to apologize for."

The Doctor shook his head slightly, his lips curved into a frown. "I hate seeing you like this Rose; I —"

But Rose had already leapt to her feet. "Deal with it or leave me the hell alone!" The Doctor jumped to his feet and caught Rose's wrists with his hands. Rose turned her head so that she couldn't see the Doctor.

"Let me finish, Rose," the Doctor leaded, his eyes wide with sincerity. Hesitantly, Rose turned to look at the Doctor. It had hurt her when the Doctor said he hated seeing her like this; this was who she was; he was saying that he hated the way she was. No one liked being told that. She did not want to be hurt any further. "What I meant was that I hate seeing you so sad, so broken."

Rose flinched. That sadness and brokenness was part of her now. But, at the very least, the Doctor wanted her to be happy; his words were meant to be words of caring, not of hurt. Rose decided to take it as the caring, if only to be kind and read the intention.

"This is who I am now." When she said it, Rose's voice was soft and, perhaps, just a bit brittle.

"How did this happen?" The Doctor's voice held the same softness as Rose's own. One of his hands drifted away from Rose's wrist to rest once more on the woman's cheek.

"I'm as old as you are, yet I never had the ability to take companions and never had any time between adventures." Rose chanced a look into the Doctor's eyes. Guilt, that was what she saw there. He felt responsible for what happened to her. But he didn't; Rose did it to herself. "Doctor, I chose this path."

"I couldn't imagine not having the support that I've had. I'm so sorry that happened to you. I —" The Doctor was cut off by Amy and Rory, who had finally found their two traveling companions.

Rose leaned in and whispered into the Doctor's ear, her lips just barely grazing the Doctor's lips. The Doctor had to suppress a shiver. He wasn't entirely sure he succeeded. "Doctor, this is who I am now; please, don't try to change it."

"Are we interrupting something?" Amy asked, her voice startling both the Doctor and Rose, neither of whom had noticed Amy and Rory's arrival. The Doctor blushed, and Rose frowned.

Rose turned to face Amy, cocking her head. "What?" The Doctor gave her a look that clearly meant that she should understand. She thought for a second before she realized what Amy meant and blushed. "No, nothing was happening other than the Doctor being his rude self and me retreating to my room. Alone."

Amy and Rory shared a short glance and shook their heads. Rory, at least, was surprised the Rose wasn't acting like the Doctor chose someone else over her, even if it was a false past version of her. He would've expected her to be hurt, not okay with it. But she seemed okay with it, understood it, even if it hurt her.

Rory placed his hand on the Doctor's shoulder in sympathy. "How's Amy?" the Doctor asked, thinking. He didn't want the conversation to focus on him and Rose. That story was not something her was particularly comfortable discussing.

"She's fine, if a bit disappointed about not actually being pregnant. We were more worried about you and Rose," Rory said, his voice indicating a question though he made a statement instead of an enquiry.

"Oh," the Doctor managed to say. He was not going to answer the implied question unless pressed. "Anywhere you want to go?"

Unfortunately for the Doctor, Rory was not going to let the subject drop. "Who is Rose? How did you know each other before?"

The Doctor took a deep breath and let it out shakily. "She was working in a shop in London. Nineteen, no A-levels, living with her mum in a council flat in a council estate." The Doctor ignored the look of pure shock on Rory's face. He could see that it was hard to imagine the hardened, travelled, broken woman as a shopgirl. But still, he bristled at the shock. "We travelled for about a year before we were stuck in the year 200,000 in a series of game shows. It was all controlled by the Daleks, and I sent her home. She came back by absorbing the Time Vortex. That's where the golden light comes from; it's the Time Vortex. she destroyed all the Daleks and saved me. I kissed it to transfer it into myself to save her; it was killing her. I returned the vortex and had to regenerate." even though he was pretending to do so, the Doctor did not miss the slight smirk on Rory's lips when the Doctor said that he kissed Rose. The Doctor grinned fondly.

A look of confusion crossed Rory's face as he processed this. "Regeneration?"

"When Time Lords are dying, there's this trick we have. We can change our faces and personalities. This is my eleventh face. The one in the dream was my tenth. rose met me in my ninth, when I had big ears and nose and wore a black leather jacket," the Doctor explained offhandedly. Rory nodded, giving the Doctor permission to continue his story. "We continued travelling, and then one day, we were separated. Forever, I thought, but she proved me wrong again. She came back across the Void, the dead space between the worlds. That's what the darkness is. Well, I left her with a human clone of myself back in her parallel universe. Never thought I'd see her again, but here we are."

ΘΣβΩΡΩΑΠ

Meanwhile, Rose and Amy were getting to know one another. "How long have you been traveling with the Doctor?" Rose's question was a bit null, seeing as she was time itself and knew the answer better than Amy herself would. However, it was a statement that could, hopefully, promote a friendly conversation.

Amy shrugged her shoulders. "Dunno, really. Think it's only about two weeks, but I'm not really sure. You lose track of time here, you know?" When Rose nodded, Amy grinned. "How long did you travel with the Doctor, do you reckon?"

"Two years, thirteen days, eight hours, nine minutes, seven seconds," Rose said without a second's hesitation, causing Amy's eyebrows to fly up. "I've got a timehead, I know these things." Both Amy and Rose burst out in hysterics.

There was a crash, almost as if the TARDIS had been piloting herself. The Doctor and Rory ran into the room, clearly alarmed. "Don't touch anything!" the Doctor exclaimed.

Three someones caught Rose's eye, causing a short, sharp profanity to escape her lips. "Doctor, take a look around."

Two people looked around the TARDIS. One had a leather jacket and the other had tweed. Rose slapped herself on the forehead in dismay. Amy, Rory, Human Rose, and Jack all looked around in confusion.

"You're me!" Human Rose exclaimed, staring at Bad Wolf Rose in awe.

"Yep," Bad Wolf Rose agreed, grinning happily. "Bow-tie is the Doctor." Bad Wolf Rose had been about to continue, but she was cut off by Jack.

"I thought regeneration was just a myth, but apparently, it's true. I'm Captain Jack Harkness, by the way. May I just say it's nice to mee —"

"Jack," Nine warned with a heavy sigh. Human Rose laughed, and Bad Wolf Rose smiled sadly, wistful for a time when she was so honestly happy.

"Leather is also the Doctor, and these are our dear friends Amelia Jessica Pond who goes by Amy and her fiance Rory Arthur Williams," Bad Wolf Rose said, her voice the epitome of calm. Eleven looked at Rose in surprise; he hadn't thought she considered Amy and Rory her close friends. He risked a glance at Amy and Rory, both of whom looked equally shocked by this realization.

"Right," Eleven said, now that the obligatory introduction had occurred. "This is not good. Oh, this is very not good."

Rose stifled a laugh at his expense. This was a scenario where the Doctor showed just how abnormal he truly was.

Human Rose just stared at Bad Wolf Rose in something akin to shock. It was hard even for her to tell that she was the same person. Instead of the peroxide blonde, older Rose's hair was an odd mix of blonde and raven, and her eyes were so incredibly different. Bad Wolf Rose's eyes reminded Human Rose of the Doctor's, except they were golden and black instead of blue. even so, the weight they carried was the same.

At the same time, Bad Wolf Rose eyed Human Rose warily. How much had she really changed since then? The years she had lived weighed heavily on her, like they had on the Doctor. Was that the reason why the Doctor looked at her like she was wrong? Did he think she was too much like him?

In all honesty, Bad Wolf Rose wished she could be more like Human Rose. But she couldn't. She was broken. She had seen too much, been too far. There was no way for her to go back, truly. Perhaps that was why the Doctor looked at her with such sadness, because she was no longer his Rose. But then, she wanted that happiness that now was lost to her. Perhaps, one day, she would be healed. But perhaps, just maybe, being back on the TARDIS would help her. Being with the Doctor would definitely help her.

Amy and Rory, for their part, had moved to the edge of the console room so that they would not be in the way of Nine, Eleven, Bad Wolf Rose, and Jack. Regaining her senses, Human Rose moved to join Amy and Rory. None of the three of them spoke.

"So," Jack drawled, giving Bad Wolf Rose an appreciative stare, "looking good, Rosie." Two figures turned to glare at Jack, who, raising his hands up in a surrender, immediately backed a foot away from the TARDIS console.

Both doctors turned back to face the TARDIS, going back to work on getting the TARDISes separated.

Bad Wolf Rose looked at the younger trio quizzically, trying to figure out where they had just come from. She decided to try to reason it out without using her time sense. It hit her; honestly, the answer was sort of obvious. "You just came from Cardiff, yeah?"

Nine nodded absently before turning to look at Bad Wolf Rose. "How did you know that?"

Bad Wolf Rose shrugged nonchalantly. "Only reason the shields would be down if someone was trying to rebuild the TARDIS like we were. Just one more button, that green one there, and you should be done!" Nine gave her an incredulous stare before obeying. The people from the past quickly faded into their past version of the TARDIS.

"Right, then," the Doctor said, clapping his hands. "Where should we go?" Rose smiled at him fondly.

"How about Rio?" Amy suggested, beginning the trek to the wardrobe.


	5. Chapter Five: Come to the Light

When they stepped out of the TARDIS, they were met with a sight that was decidedly not Rio. Well, if it were Rio, then it would be Rio of a fictional time period or a different Rio entirely. So, it was probably just not Rio.

Amy raised her eyebrows and turned to face the Doctor, who immediately shrunk backwards a step to hide behind Rose. Rose, of course, stepped aside, placing the Doctor in the middle of Amy's view. The Doctor shot her a glare.

"I asked for Rio, Doctor. This," she gestured violently at the door, "is not Rio." He hands wedged themselves on her hips.

"Isn't it?" the Doctor asked mildly, as if half expecting Rio to magically appear outside the door. He did not have any such luck.

Rose shook her head, her blondish raven hair tumbling across her face. The Doctor found himself wanting to tuck it behind her ear for her. In fact, he had to clench his fists by his side in order not to. Rose, thankfully, did not seem to notice. The Doctor breathed out a sigh of relief at there. "Told you that you wouldn't get the flight right, Doctor," she said, almost laughing.

To the Doctor, that sound was like an oasis. It meant that Rose was still just his Rose, just that little bit. He grinned, much to Rose's chagrin.

"That's where you're supposed to protest that you are not an eejit, Doctor," Amy clarified for Rose, whose eyebrows were raised and mouth still slightly open. Rory bit back a laugh, and the Doctor looked between the two women, unsure of at whom he should pout. All in all, it was rather comical.

"Protest or not, it doesn't change the truth!" Rose exclaimed, her eyes swimming with light. Her eyes were golden when next she spoke. "The TARDIS does not take you where you want to go; she takes you where you need to go." The glow in her eyes faded, and the Doctor shuffled his feet and closed his eyes. Amy and Rory shared a long look. Amy's eyebrow had shot up, and Rory's mouth was open slightly. While they had been getting used to Rose having mystic powers, it still freaked them out. Well, it freaked the humans out. The Doctor merely felt guilt.

Rose shook her head and dashed outside, inhaling deeply. "It's 2020. Wales. And we're not along the rift. Who'd've thought it?"

The Doctor laughed heartily, and Rory and Amy shared a confused stare. "Something's wrong," the Doctor declared, and everyone else rolled his or her eyes.

"No, duh," Amy snapped, following Rose's lead and running out into the cemetery they had landed in.

Rory's gaze focused on the grass, and he frowned. He looked at the Doctor, forgetting Rose's ability to see through time. Well, more like pretending it didn't exist. "Why's the grass blue?"

The Doctor stared at him, an incredulous eyebrow ridge raised. "You're ten years in your own personal future and you're thinking about blue grass?" The Doctor stared at Rory for a second longer, feeling like he was missing something. "Actually, Rory, that's a good point. Why is the grass green?"

"Thanks," Rory bit out sarcastically. He turned to Amy for support, and his fiance rubbed him on his back. He noticed the ring on her finger. "Amy, what if you lose it?"

Amy opened her mouth to respond, but Rose interjected first. "If something happens to it, I can bring it back." Her eyes flashed golden before she continued. "Something ancient is coming, and the man of infinite patience shall fall, and the ultimate doom shall be foretold." She grinned, her eyes bright with feverish excitement, the type brought upon by adrenaline.

The Doctor walked over to one of the blue patches of grass and hopped up and down on the ground. He frowned slightly.

"Doctor, can't we just go to Rio? I'm dressed for sunshine!" Amy's voice had an irritated edge to it, and the edge was amplified by the fact Amy's hands were on her hips.

"Doctor," Rory added, not entirely sure whom to back up. "You look ridiculous, so you've either found something or you're an idiot. I'm voting for the latter." Rory smiled, and Amy just laughed, shaking her head,

"The ground feels funny." The Doctor looked to Rose, asking for support. He could tell already that the humans wouldn't notice it. Though, it seemed Rose was now more similar to him than her birth race.

"Something ancient is coming. Life is coming back. Life from eons past. The past owners arise," Rose whispered in a voice so low that the Doctor only heard because of his superior hearing and Amy and Rory completely failed to hear at all. Rose shook her head, snapping out of her trance-like state. "Yes, the ground is quite odd, and grass is not supposed to be blue." She saw something in the distance. "And people are not supposed to drill into the surface."

The Doctor whirled around and saw the drill station. "Oh, that is very not good! Old owners, you said? Arising? That's something to do with the drills. And the Silurians! Oh, someone must have peeked at my Christmas list!" The Doctor grinned, walking over to Rose, excitement written all over his face. Rose smiled in response.

Amy looked between them for a second. "Sorry, what are Silurians, Doctor?" She tugged Rory along behind her, but her fiance went willingly.

"The original owners of the Earth," the Doctor explained, looking to Rose for support.

"Well," Rose continued, reminding the Doctor of his Tenth self. "You lot are descended from apes, right? The Silurians, or Home reptilia, are descended from lizards." She grinned, letting the Doctor finish their combined explanations.

"They're humanoid lizards, Ponds!" the Doctor finished, grinning broadly. He high-fived Rose. Rose, he had noticed, had been happier, and was a lighter person despite the darkness still within her.

Amy and Rory just groaned, but Rose and the Doctor didn't seem to notice; the latter pair had run down the hill to the gate of the drill station. Amy and Rory ran to catch up. When they got down there, they found that the Doctor had sonicked the lock.

"Doctor!" Amy hissed, glaring at the Time Lord. "That is breaking and entering!"

"What'd I break?" the Doctor asked quizzically. "Sonicking and enterring! Totally different!" The Doctor stared quizzically at Amy.

Rory pointed out the obvious. "But you're still going into the restricted area!"

"Touche, Pond!" the Doctor exclaimed before unceremoniously throwing open the gate and marching back into the main building. Rose, Rory, and Amy trotted after him.

A woman inside the building glared at them. "Who are you?"

"The Doctor, Rose, Rory, and I'm Amy," Amy grumbled. "And we aren't staying are we?"

Rose and the Doctor ignored her, and Rory was distracted. "What's this hole in the floor for?"

"Don't know," the woman said, "It just appeared there over night." She stared at them for a second. "And you're not authorized to be here!"

Rose tensed for a moment before shouting. "Stop drilling now!" Her eyes widened. "Stop now or the ground will open up and take some of our own!"

"Why should we listen to you?" the man snapped, coming to stand next to the woman of Indian descent.

"We're the only ones who can help. Seismic activity? We're the Ministry of Seismic Activity!" the Doctor exclaimed, earning himself an elbow from Rose.

"Doctor," Amy groaned, voicing Rose's exact thought. Just as she said that, the floor quaked. A crack opened up beneath Amy, and the girl began to fall.

"Amy! Amy!" Rory shouted, terrified for the woman he loved. He dove down and grabbed one of her arms.

"Something's pulling me!" Amy whispered, her eyes looking every which way. Her eyes were wide, and her heart was beating quickly.

The Doctor knelt down next to Rory and grabbed Amy's other wrist. Rose stood behind the two men, evaluating the options.

"You have to let her go," Rose whispered, something akin to sadness causing a tear to well up in one of her eyes. "She will be sucked in. It's up to you what happens to her."

The Doctor released Amy's wrist as he turned around to look at Rose. Amy slipped under the surface. Rory rounded on Rose and the Doctor, anger flaring in his eyes. He bared his teeth.

"You let her go!" Rory's voice was a loud shout, and his eyes were feverish. He clenched his fists, which he clearly wanted to use to throttle the Doctor and Rose. "How could you! How could you let Amy go?!"

"We'll get her back," the Doctor promised, his eyes serious. He turned and looked at Rose to have her second the notion. He gaped at what he saw, however.

Rose was glowing and had her arms raised above her head. She dived into the whole. The Doctor's hearts beat more quickly, and his breaths became more sporadic as he relied more and more on his respiratory bypass system. "Rose!" he cried, his mouth open and his eyes were wide and doleful. He just managed to catch her ankle. He heard her shout a few curses, which were all muffled by the ground, and she kicked her leg free of his grasp. Her leg disappeared entirely under the surface.

The Doctor stared at the ground blankly, not sure what to do. "Let's go back to the TARDIS, Rory! Come on! We're going after them!" the Doctor declared a few moments of staring blankly. He growled in frustration.

Rory nodded, desperation just as much within him as it was within the Doctor. He ran after the Doctor out of the station and up the hill to the TARDIS. The run seemed to be everlasting; they could not get there quickly enough.

The Doctor was quiet as he piloted the TARDIS down into the lair of the Silurians. Thus, it was with trembling hands and voice that Rory finally asked his question. "Doctor, what's the plan?"

"Uh, haven't thought of that, Rory Pond," the Doctor muttered, finishing his dance around the console. He stepped backwards with a slight stumble. He staggered over to the door and threw it opened. He was immediately confronted with the sight of a bunch of warriors surrounding them. "Ah."

He saw gold light and was torn between anxiety and relief. Rose was perfectly fine. He hoped the same was true for Amy too. "Alright, Silurians, stand down. Now!" Rose commanded, her eyebrows raised. A feral grin touched her lips, and the Doctor decided that he would like the smile had it been for any other purpose.

The Silurian in charge, the one with some ruddy brown scales, glared at Rose. "What authority do you have, ape?"

"Sorry, do you see any apes around here? I'm not an ape. And I'm no human either. I've changed. Into what? Well, I never bothered to figure that out." Rose almost winced at how much she sounded like this Doctor with that entire exclamation. "Anyway, I am the highest authority in any universe, and the Doctor here is the second most. I order you to stand down and take us to your place of governance."

The Silurian woman shot her a haughty glare before turning and leading her people away. Meanwhile, the Doctor stared at Rose, just a bit awestruck. Like his Tenth incarnation, he decided he kind of liked it when Rose was bossy.

Rose motioned for the others to follow her and the Silurians. The Doctor was quick to follow. Rory suddenly spotted Amy and engulfed her in a hug. The Doctor watched them for a second before realizing that Rose was walking away. He jogged to catch her up. Amy and Rory were at his and Rose's sides a few moments later.

"What is your plan?" the Doctor whispered in Rose's ear. He purposefully made sure his lips brushed Rose's ear. He smirked when Rose shivered slightly. Perhaps one day she would love him again. He would not miss his opportunity again.

Rose smiled slightly, brushing against the Doctor's side. Rose, for her part, knew that there were long-dormant feelings for the Doctor within her. The feelings had not died, per se; they had just become buried deep as Rose grew older and harder. "Create a second version of this solar system but have it be from the times of the Silurians and give it to the Silurians."

The Doctor nodded. This time, he purposefully brushed up against Rose. He definitely saw her blush. "Can I help?" Oh, those were words he had never thought he could say.

"Can you try to support my mind?" Rose whispered, knowing this to be a somewhat intimate request. It was not asking to share minds; it was just an asking of an energy transfer. Thus, the Doctor nodded enthusiastically. Rose smiled, and soon, they were in the main hall.

"Ready?" Rose whispered. She reached for the Doctor's hand, something he immediately consented to. It had been a long time since Rose had held someone's hand. The Doctor nodded.

Rose allowed golden energy to surround her, and she inhaled deeply. Possibilities and the power to alter them seemed to float around her. She felt a presence in the back of her mind. It was the Doctor, feeding her his own energy. She used it and her own as she mimed a sphere with her hands. She felt the sun and the planets come into existence as she created each and every one. She felt the civilization around her fade as she transferred it to the new system. She found any other Silurian civilizations on the first Earth and sent them over as well.

She had not attempted anything so massive in a long time, and the Doctor's added energy was proving to have been a bad idea. She had never worked with such energy before, and the energy combined with the power was beginning to overwhelm her.

She felt the new system melt in her hands. She cursed, horrified at what had happened. She had given up caring once, but she had started caring again, and she could not believe what she had just done, albeit the destruction was accidental. She had just committed a genocide because she had lost control for a second. And she was still not in control.

She screamed as she felt this small area of Wales start to collapse in on itself. And, if she didn't stop, the whole world and universe would be pulled in also. She barred the Doctor's access to her mind, and used the power to melt her own mind.

Rose's corpse collapsed, dead. Tears streamed down the Doctor's face. How could Rose be dead? He had just felt her in his mind? How could she be gone?! The Doctor collapsed to his knees, sobbing. His vision was blurry with tears. He leaned down, half on Rose's body, half on what remained of the ground.

Rose's body disintegrated. The Doctor fell forward for a second before pushing himself off the ground with one hand and wiping his tears with the other. He stared up. The golden and ebony ashes that were created from her body were arranging themselves in the air, and the shape was on that the Doctor would know anywhere.

"Rose," he whispered, his voice hoarse from his weeping and from his surprise and sudden joy. When he spoke again, his whisper was much the same. "Like a phoenix!"

The Doctor rose to his feet and placed his hands on Rose's newly formed shoulders. Rose gasped loudly, suddenly alive again. The Doctor brought her into a fierce hug, almost unable to believe that Rose was still alive. He almost whispered that he loved her, but he didn't; he realized that Rose was sobbing for what she'd done. His hearts clenched in both sorrow and empathy. To the Ponds, he said, "Take her to the TARDIS, Ponds." He had spotted a crack in the floor that matched the crack in Amy's wall and the crack on the Byzantium.

Amy and Rory shook their heads, finally broken from their shock. They looked around themselves, finally realizing what the Doctor had said. They walked over to Rose and tapped her on the shoulder. She offered them a wet smile. Amy glanced around, looking for the TARDIS. She spotted the Old Girl and smiled. Amy wrapped around Rose's back, and Rory awkwardly put a hand on her back. Together, they lead Rose to the TARDIS.

The Doctor walked over to the crack, his hearts thumping madly. He reached a hand in, wincing in pain. He could feel time bending around his arms. He gasped. His hand grabbed something. He pulled his hand out of the crack. He opened his hand.

"No," he whispered, his eyes wide. "That can't be. That's impossible." The piece of shrapnel was the corner of the instructions on his TARDIS. His hand shook, and he pocketed the piece of the TARDIS, hastily dashing inside and bolting the door.

With surprising ease, the Doctor dematerialized the TARDIS.

He watched as Amy and Rory left the console room together to go to their room. He was about to see if the TARDIS needed repairs when he heard Rose's voice."

"I killed them." Rose's voice was raw, and tears still ran down her face. "I had saved them, but I lost control. Now they're all dead. I killed all the Silurians. And the town. It's gone too. I killed them all." Rose shook, and she wrapped her arms around herself.

The Doctor walked over to her and hugged her again. "Rose. You're still Rose, no matter who you think you are now, you are still Rose, and you still make everything better, even me."


	6. Chapter Six: Laugh at the Dark

He watched as Amy and Rory left the console room together to go to their room. He was about to see if the TARDIS needed repairs when he heard Rose's voice."

"I killed them." Rose's voice was raw, and tears still ran down her face. "I had saved them, but I lost control. Now they're all dead. I killed all the Silurians. And the town. It's gone too. I killed them all." Rose shook, and she wrapped her arms around herself.

The Doctor walked over to her and hugged her again. "Rose. You're still Rose, no matter who you think you are now, you are still Rose, and you still make everything better, even me."

Rose shook her head in denial, tears still pouring out of her eyes. Again, she whispered, "I killed them."

The Doctor pulled Rose closer to him. The Doctor wracked his mind to see if there was anything he could say that would comfort his Rose. "Rose," he mumbled into the crook of her neck. "You didn't mean for that to happen."

Rose pulled back from the Doctor just enough to look him in the eyes. "Those people were killed because I lost control. Perhaps this is why it was easier when I didn't bother to care."

"Rose," the Doctor whispered again, his voice still hoarse. It seemed that he could only say the woman's name. One thing he did know was that he did not like the fact she was blaming herself. "What do you mean you didn't bother to care?"

Rose did her best to blink away her tears, but she was met with only mild success. "Nine-hundred or so years with no one to hold my hand? Even I gave up caring at some point." Rose looked away from the Doctor's face and then back again. She shivered, feeling almost as if the Doctor were trying to see into her very mind. She opened her mouth, contemplating whether or not she could add something, and then she closed her mouth.

The Doctor, his motions jerky and hesitant, reached up and wiped away Rose's tears with his thumb. "Rose, you're talking to me as if I have a right to be angry with you. I don't know where I would be if I hadn't taken companions, and after the Time War, I stopped caring. After I lost you to the parallel universe both times, I stopped fully caring."

Rose's eyes widened, and she blinked, her jaw going slack. "Why? I was another companion, yeah? Not even the first one you'd kissed." Had she not been overwhelmed in sadness, she may have laughed at the Doctor's scandalized facial expression.

"That thing with Grace? You think that was more than a little blast of adrenaline? Tyler, do you know me at all?" the Doctor exclaimed, patting rose on the back. He did not miss Rose's flinch at the last sentence.

The Doctor wondered, just for a moment why she had flinched. Then, as realization hit him, he winced "Ah, sorry about that."

Rose shook her head slightly. "I haven't known you well for nine-hundred years, and you don't know this me very well." The corners of Rose's lips descended, betraying her sadness.

"Yeah," the Doctor mumbled quietly. "We should get to know each other better then." The Doctor looked at Rose, carefully gauging her reaction. The Doctor closed his eyes as he saw her forehead wrinkle.

Her voice slightly higher pitched in her attempt at sounding less sad, Rose asked, "Are you asking me out on a date?" The Doctor's eyes snapped open. That wasn't exactly what he had meant, but it was lying there deep within the subtext.

"Possibly. For the future, Rose," the Doctor whispered, his voice almost patronizing.

Rose shook her head and made to stand up and head to where her room had once been. She opened the room and saw that her room had changed since she had travelled with the Doctor last. Instead of being all pink and girly, the room now had some Time Lord pictures of her and the Doctor, but there were also many Time Lord paintings of the Time War and many Time Lords paintings of the places she had been throughout her long life.

She heard footsteps behind her and closed her eyes.

"Rose? Wha—" the Doctor began, but his eyes widened as shock sank in. He opened his mouth and closed it dumbly like a fish. He managed to blink and that quickly became his favorite activity. Had Rose not been alarmed by his sudden appearance, she might have laughed.

"Rose's Room 2.0. These are all places I've been," Rose declared, her voice suspiciously airy. The Doctor's eyes narrowed as he caught sight of the pictures of the Time War. Rose turned and figured out at which picture he was staring. She groaned inwardly.

"You've been to the Time War," the Doctor whispered, his syllables long and drawn out and his voice hoarse.

Rose nodded quickly and without hesitation. "No control over my landings, you know. Landed in it and therefore had to be in it. And as the Vortex only moves me once danger is gone, I was stuck there until the very end."

The Doctor's eyes widened, and he shook his head in denial. Rose offered him the barest of smiles. "You can't have been. Rose, please tell me you're joking."

Her hands shaking slightly, Rose hesitated before she drew the Doctor into a hug. "Not kidding, Doctor, but let's think of happier things." Rose's eyes glowed with golden light for a moment.

The Doctor grinned, and his hearts beat harder against his chest. He gulped. He brought up his arms and wrapped them around Rose and pulled her to himself. Three words pressed against the Doctor's consciousness, but he paid them no mind. Either that, or he failed to notice them entirely.

Rose pulled back first, and the Doctor pouted at the loss of contact. Rose coughed, trying to cover an amused giggle. "I think Miss Pond wanted to go to Rio, Doctor. How about we go to Rio, Doctor?"

A little grin spread across the Doctor's visage. "I think that can be arranged." Rose's only response was a slight smile.


	7. Chapter Seven: The Chicken Yet to Hatch

Rose was the first person in the console room. This, however, was for a reason that she had once been one to tease the Doctor about: she had not changed her clothing despite the different location and temperature expected.

To Rose's surprise, the Doctor was the next one in the console room, and he had, in fact, changed into swim shorts, but he kept his coat on. In Rose's opinion, he looked quite ridiculous, and that was coming from a woman who no longer was that sure on the modern dress style.

Amy and Rory were there next, practically tripping over one another. Amy was wearing a black and blue bikini, and Rory was wearing plaid swim trunks. Amy took one look at Rose before dragging her to the TARDIS wardrobe. Rose protested, flailing in vain. She attempted to use her powers to free herself, but they seemed to have temporarily deserted her.

Amy found a golden and black bathing suit for Rose. It was much more modest than Amy's; Rose's covered her entire stomach and was not nearly as revealing as that of Amy. Rose hesitantly changed into the foreign outfit.

As they walked back into the console room, Rose blushed, brushing down her bathing suit. Her gaze remained firmly on the glass floor. That also meant that she didn't see the Doctor's jaw drop.

It was only Amy's snickering that alerted Rose that something was going on. Rose chanced a look up and muttered something akin to, "Oi! Don't laugh!" The Doctor continued gaping.

When she finally noticed this, Rose smacked the Doctor, who rubbed his arm. Rose rubbed the spot she had hit, but Amy chuckled, and because Amy was doing it, so did Rory.

"Right, yes, Rio!" the Doctor exclaimed, setting to work on the TARDIS console. Rose shook her head at his antics before walking over to the console and aiding the Doctor, despite the glare he sent in her direction.

"What century Miss Soon-to-be-Williams?" Rose asked, grinning at Amy. Amy smiled back, glad to see the woman in a state of what appeared to be happiness.

"51st," Amy replied, and Rory stared at her incredulously.

"51st? Are you sure you didn't mean 21st?" Rory asked timidly, afraid he would somehow upset his fiance. Amy shook her head, and Rose quickly plugged in the temporal coordinates as her eyes briefly glowed. In addition to the coordinates becoming set when Rose used her powers, Rose's bathing suit also gained short sleeves and a skirt while she allowed just a tad bit more of her cleavage to show. Amy just shook her head.

The TARDIS shook, signifying the fact she had landed. Amy grinned and pushed open the door. The Doctor and Rose high-fived almost instinctually; they had gotten the location correct.

Amy grinned, and Rory's eyes widened as they took in the surroundings. There was a large beach with sand that was somewhere between the purest white and a pink pastel. The water was clear where it was shallow, and where it was deeper, it was an aquamarine.

"This good enough for you?" Rose asked, her eyes sparkling slightly. It had been ages since she had seen something so tranquil. Something was wrong, though, but she couldn't tell what it was.

"Where are all the people?" Rory asked, and Rose slapped herself on the forehead. That was what was the matter.

"Good question, Pond. Wait, that is actually a good question," the Doctor exclaimed, his eyes widening, and he gesticulated more emphatically. The Doctor turned to Rose to see if she could see how this came to pass.

Golden light spilled from Rose's eyes. Rose's skin appeared more golden than before, but then the dark energy hung at the edge, threatening to give her the powers of the Void as well.

Rose's eyes widened, and she stumbled backwards, mouthing the word "No" over and over again. The Doctor ran over to her, despite the folly of the idea; her powers could easily hurt him.

"What?" the Doctor asked anxiously. What could be so utterly terrible that it would scare someone with infinite powers.

"Daleks," Rose growled, her eyes glowing in anger as she allowed her Void powers to join her vortex powers.

"Stop this, Rose. You're better than this; we can find another way," the Doctor declared in a tone that dared Rose to disagree. Rose glared at him, but her powers dissipated slightly.

"Why? I could get rid of the murderous vermin permanently. Is that bad? Are you suddenly on their side?!" Rose demanded angrily. She took a breath, trying to calm her ire. She raised up her hand to destroy the Daleks, but the Doctor grabbed her arm and tugged her along with him out the door. Both people blinked in the sudden light. Amy and Rory quickly followed them outside. Suddenly, Amy felt a little self-conscious about having to save the day in a bikini. Of course, she was still happy to do it.

The power around Rose seemed to die down, and the Doctor breathed outwards in relief. "Let's go hunt some Daleks!" Rose decided for them all aloud. Of course, that was what everyone else wanted anyway.

They did not have to hunt for very long; the red Dalek, that had been created in WWII London, slid into their range of vision at an alarming speed. Amy's eyes widened, and Rory backed away. The Doctor put his arm protectively around Rose's shoulders. Rose shrugged his arm off of her.

"ALERT! ALERT!" the Dalek screeched. "IT IS THE ONCOMING STORM AND THE BAD WOLF!" The Dalek's eyestalk quivered, and Rose almost laughed. The Doctor also looked more than the slightest bit smug at the Dalek's terror. More Daleks appeared around them. "YOU WILL FOLLOW."

Unable to do anything else because her powers were not coming when she called, Rose beckoned the others to follow the Daleks. Swallowing, the Doctor followed. The Dalek lead them to the edge of the water before pausing. "OPEN THE WATER GATE. CODE BAD WOLF. HEADING TO SUBAQUATIC LABORATORY."

Rose could almost hear the word "AFFIRMATIVE" said by the Dalek on the other end of whatever form of communication the red Dalek had used. Rose turned away from the water. "Amy and Rory, on the count of three, run for the TARDIS and don't look back," Rose commanded seriously. Light gathered around her hands. "One. Two. Three." On three, the light from her hand swirled around the subordinate Daleks, who started to turn into atoms. Rory ran without hesitation, dragging Amy behind him, despite her protests.

Rose turned to the red Dalek, and she turned it into atoms as well. The Doctor stared at where the water had evaporated, leaving a gaping hole. The Doctor stared at it for a second before outstretching his hand, asking her to take it. Almost hesitantly, Rose accepted the invitation.

"Into the pit," the Doctor declared, a mad grin spreading across his countenance. He raised his non-existent eyebrows at Rose, causing her to laugh. "Geronimo!" They ran into the open hole, which proved to be a proper hole in the ground. They fell for about two minutes before they hit the ground with a thud.

The Doctor stood up and brushed his tweed coat off. Rose sat up with a groan a minute later, her vortex powers coming just enough to clean herself up before they died back down. The Doctor stared at her for a second. "Oh, no. You shouldn't do that. They could detect us!"

Rose shrugged, and continued along the hall to what looked like a laboratory. In the laboratory was a large contraption that looked almost like a giant microscope. However, instead of the powered lenses, there were needles, and the eyepiece was a clear tube that contained a blackish dust.

"No!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Void stuff. What are they trying to do? Punch a hole in reality? Rose. You have Void powers."

Rose nodded, realizing exactly what the Doctor was saying. "They're trying to take my powers from me! Or at least take some of them!" Rose's eyes widened, and the Doctor could see black starting to swirl in them. He whipped his head to look at the machine once again. The tubular thing at the top began to glow, and the black within it began to swirl.

Rose looked at the Doctor, black light swirling around her hands. She clenched her fists in an attempt to keep the power in, but it was to no avail. The black was being sucked into the machine. Rose sank to her knees, curling into a ball. A scream rang out, and it was no secret that it belonged to Rose.

The Doctor's lip curled in disgust at the Daleks. How dare they do this to Rose? The Doctor turned towards the machine, and then he strode towards it, brushing down his tweed coat. He was wishing that he had kept his regular attire on. It was pure luck that he had his sonic.

Around the other side of the machine was the orange Dalek. The Doctor glared at it in an almost piteous way. He did not notice that the Void dust was siphoned out of the tubular structure and began to take the form of a box.

The Doctor grinned a little bit madly, and the Dalek scooted back a few centimeters. The Doctor stepped forward a step, and the Dalek scooted back again. The Dalek froze for a moment before it vanished from sight. It reappeared next to the box.

The Doctor caught sight of Rose. She had pushed herself to her feet, but her eyes were still shut in agony. Golden light spilled from her hands, and the power instantly attacked the machine. Some of the energy was channeled into the box with the darker energy, but the rest of it engulfed the machine, causing it to vanish.

Both the Doctor and Rose finally saw the box, which was now a fully formed black cube with golden marks on the side. The orange Dalek turned to them, and if a Dalek could wear a smug grin, that would be exactly what the Dalek was doing. "THE PANDORICA IS COMPLETE." Rose attempted to gather her powers to her, but the Dalek had already slid all the way towards the box known as the Pandorica. A white light began to engulf the Dalek and the Pandorica, which then made a dreaded declaration. "EMERGENCY TEMPORAL SHIFT." Both the Dalek and the box were gone.

The Doctor thought of Manhattan with Martha, and he smacked his leg angrily. "No! They escaped again. They always escape!" He hissed, and he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"No, they don't always escape. One day, they'll be gone, you'll see," Rose stated confidently, a small smile on her face. The surety of her voice made the Doctor almost believe them. The Daleks were one of the few constants of his long life, and he figured that they had been a constant in Rose's life too.

Gold flooded into the Doctor's vision, and when it cleared, the Doctor was back in the TARDIS. He looked behind him to see Rose standing there as well. He turned and saw that both Amy and Rory had changed into their proper clothing.

From the looks on their faces, it was clear that something was very much the matter. "Doctor, Rose," Amy began, and the Doctor winced before she had even continued. "We can't stay here. I thought traveling with you would be fun and exciting, an adventure, but I'm not part of that, not really. I can't keep travelling when I can't be part of anything, and when I, we, can't tell the difference between the bad guys and the good guys." Rory nodded, grimacing.

He coughed. "I don't have to be part of any action. I'm a nurse." Rory took Amy's hand, and both had to look away from Rose and the Doctor both. The Doctor's eyes were filled with tears, and Rose had bit her lip and looked down at the ground guiltily.

"I can go," Rose offered, tears choking her voice. She looked up between Amy, Rory, and the Doctor. She brought her hand up, summoning the golden light of the time vortex to her hand.

The Doctor held out his hand, taking Rose's and yanking it down. It was too late, however, and Rose had already started to dematerialize. The Doctor had taken her hand in time to go with her, but not in time to stop her.

Gold flooded the vision of both Rose and the Doctor, and for a second, pain and illness wracked both of their bodies as they catapulted through the vortex.

As they appeared on a London street, Rose gasped for air, and the Doctor doubled over, sputtering. His hands fell down to his knees, supporting his weight. Rose dragged him up by the back of his collar and the bottommost edge of his hair.

Rose spun around, searching for her bearings. The street was longs, and there was barely anything to set the street apart or anything on the street apart from anything else. All the houses were identical to all the others, except for one, which had a second floor. "That can't be right," they said in unison, glancing at one another.


	8. Chapter Eight: A Solid Rock

The two story house was right nearby where they were standing, and there was clearly something wrong. There was no reason for the house to be any different from the others. Rose briefly tapped into her powers, which, for once, were willing to be of assistance, and she discovered that the house had an opening for a lodger. "Doctor!" she exclaimed, "There's a vacancy in that house."

"What? You mean you and me stay in a house?! A house with proper doors and carpets and windows?" The Doctor curled his lip in disgust. Rose glared at him. Sniffing, he added, "Oh, alright! Fine!" Rose smiled and offered her hand to the Doctor, who took it in a manner that could only be described as grudging. Rose was forced to well-nigh drag him behind herself as she walked to the door. She knocked, and the Doctor flinched every time her fist struck the door.

There were the sounds of footsteps approaching the door, and the owner of the footsteps then opened the door almost violently. "I love you!" the owner declared. And then, the man seemed to realize that the Doctor and Rose were there and the person he was declaring to was not.

"Good," the Doctor replied, and Rose shot him a skeptical stare. "We're your new lodgers!" The owner, a man, stared at him in disbelief, his brow furrowed.

"How did you know about that? I only put the advert in the paper this morning. It was only for one lodger; I've only got one vacancy," the man explained, twitching slightly. Clearly, he was more than a bit nervous about sharing his house.

Rose and the Doctor shared a look. Both of their eyes widened as they realized their error. There was one vacancy, and there were two of them. For them both to share the same vacancy, there was only one scenario that would work. The tips of the Doctor's ears turned pink, and Rose bit her lip, blushing. "We're, ah, together," the Doctor explained, trying not to giggle like a school girl. Rose almost laughed.

"Right," the man said, trying not to be entirely too antsy. "I'm Craig, the owner. Just, erm, let me know if you'd like some privacy." The Doctor frowned for second, confused, but then the realization hit him hard. His mouth formed an "oh" and his non-existent eyebrows shot up, and once more, his ears pinkened. The Doctor was about to protest when Rose elbowed him. The Doctor stared at her dubiously.

"We will, yeah," Rose promised. She did her best to look as sincere as possible, but inwardly, she was laughing. The Doctor's mouth fell open, and Rose had to push it up. Craig laughed.

"Welcome," Craig said, gesturing around the place. He walked in through a second doorway and walked over to the refrigerator. He pulled a ring of keys from a hook and handed them to the Doctor, who accepted them gratefully.

The Doctor looked at a picture on the fridge. The picture was of Craig, a woman, and a small baby. "That your girlfriend, Craig?" the Doctor asked, an innocent look on his face.

Craig shook his head. "No, that's my wife." The Doctor clapped his hands and Rose grinned. Craig paused for a second. "My wife, Sophie, she should be getting home soon with Alfie."

Rose nodded, but the Doctor was distracted by a black patch on the wall. "Do you have a mold problem?" the Doctor asked, contemplatively. Rose looked at the offending patch of wall, furrowing her brow.

"That does not look like mold," Rose mumbled to herself. The part of the wall seemed almost familiar, almost like the thorn that never let go.

The Doctor turned to look at Rose quizzically. "Did you say something?" He stared at for a moment after he said this, but he was met only with shrugged shoulders. The Doctor turned to Craig. "We'll just go to our room, if you don't mind."

Craig stared at him, slightly open-mouthed. Rose was forced to elbow the Doctor once again. Rose cleared her throat. "There's an important phone call that we have to make. Please, do excuse us." The Doctor turned to Rose in surprise. Usually, she was not that formal.

Craig nodded, coughing slightly. "Right. Okay, see you later then." Rose waved, and then the Doctor pulled her to their new room. Rose blushed, knowing exactly how Craig would have interpreted this.

The room was of a modest size, and the bed was a double bed. The Doctor immediately sat himself down on the bed, patting the space next to him for Rose to sit down upon. Rose nodded and sat next to him, seeing no reason not to obey or even protest.

"You going to call Amy and Rory then?" Rose asked the Doctor, hope shining in her eyes for the first time since she had come back. Rose rested her head on the Doctor's shoulder, causing the Doctor to grin. His arm came to rest on Rose's hip. He was surprised at the utter lack of protest. The Doctor leaned into Rose's touch eagerly, seeing as he was not being stopped. He failed to notice that her skin temperature was the same as his own.

"Why don't you?" the Doctor asked, his breath tickling Rose's ear. "I don't have a way to contact them." The Doctor chanced a look at Rose, who seemed to be content.

Rose held in a chuckle. "They don't like me, remember? They want to leave because of me. I'm not about to talk to them!" Rose's tone contained a mixture of indignation and amusement, and the Doctor decided that it was just as he remembered it from before.

"So we have to call the TARDIS to us, then!" the Doctor exclaimed, his voice too excited to match the sentence that had just egressed his lips. Rose nodded in response, and she was enveloped in a golden glow. The Doctor registered a change in temperature, and he was forced to move backwards, away from Rose. He glared at the halo of light, irritably. Just when things had been working out, it just had to come along and ruin it.

The light cleared, and Rose shook her head vaguely. "Did it work?" the Doctor asked, anxiety seeping into his tone. Rose nodded, blinking slowly. The fog in her vision cleared.

"Yeah, she'll be here in hours. Can't tell exactly when. She'll be here between twelve and thirty-six hours," Rose explained, looking at the Doctor. "We're stuck here until then."

The Doctor was torn between disappointment and excitement. He could have learned to stay here with Rose. Perhaps he could have led a normal life with her. But he would have missed the TARDIS, and he knew that he could never stay away from his loving ship for very long. "Okay."

Footsteps approached from down the hall. "Doctor," Rose whispered, blood rushing to her cheeks. "Craig probably thinks we're in here, you know, snogging or something along those lines." Much to Rose's chagrin, the Doctor refused to blush.

"What if we proved him right?" the Doctor asked with a caution that he did not typically possess. He gauged Rose's response. Her response was to gawk at him, her eyes bulging out.

"You're kidding me! Are you seriously suggesting that?!" Rose demanded. From the Doctor's demeanor, she assumed that he was not, in fact, kidding her, but with what he had just suggested, she could not be sure. The Doctor shook his head.

Rose blinked slowly and pinched herself. The Doctor had to restrain a laugh. "You're suggesting that we snog." Rose's tone was somewhat flat, and the Doctor cringed. Perhaps he was not wanting to do this just for the purpose of proving Craig right. That was probably just a bonus in his opinion. Rose sighed heavily, and the Doctor was not sure whether it was just to be melodramatic or not. "Oh, all right," Rose added, causing the Doctor to grin.

"To appearances, then," the Doctor said, miming holding up a glass to clink with Rose. Rose giggled slightly, but she was cut off by the Doctor's lips meeting her own. Rose squeaked, but then she remembered that she had agreed to this, and she kissed him back, her hands tangling in his hair. The Doctor's hands came to rest on the small of Rose's back.

There was a knocking on the door to the room, and they broke apart, neither gasping for air or flushed. "Come in," Rose called. The Doctor noticed that she had not released him yet, and he was equally certain that he was more than okay with that.

Craig walked in and almost instantly, he averted his eyes. "Sorry. I was, ah, wondering if you two would like to go to the pub with me and Sophie this evening." Craig fidgeted nervously.

Rose looked at the Doctor, grinning. "Well, what do you think, Doctor?" The Doctor smiled and nodded. "I think that's a yes, Craig. Count us in!"

"Right. You two can go back to what you were doing," Craig said, practically flying out of the room. Rose bit in a laugh, but the Doctor failed to hold his in.

"Well, Doctor," Rose stated, eying the Doctor's hair, "you might want to straighten up a bit first." The Doctor looked up at his hair, and one of his hands left Rose's back to land in his hair. Rose rested her head on his chest. The Doctor blushed once he realized that Rose was correct and his hair actually was mussed.

"Right. I'll be doing that, then," the Doctor muttered, reluctantly extracting himself from Rose's embrace. Rose smiled.

"I'll just head off to the store to get suitable clothing for both of us then," Rose stated, and the Doctor stared at her in disbelief. Golden light surrounded Rose for a moment, and then she was gone.

Half an hour had passed by the time a golden light appeared in the room that quickly changed into Rose. "First two times I controlled the jump. It's working quite well." The Doctor grinned broadly. Then he saw what lay in Rose's hands. On one of her arms there was what appeared to be mens' jeans and a TARDIS blue mens' polo-shirt and on her other arm was an informal knee-length black dress with a golden sash. "You can wear the bowtie if you feel the need," Rose laughed, tossing him the clothes meant for him. "First time I've gotten something new in ages too, so don't feel terrible." The Doctor stared at the clothes for a moment and smiled. They didn't seem too entirely terrible.

Rose turned around, and from her hand gesture, the Doctor realized that he was supposed to do the same. Quickly, both the Doctor and Rose shucked off their clothes and changed into the slightly more average clothing for the pub. "We still have an hour or so, right?"

The Doctor nodded, and Rose smiled. "Do you want to investigate, or do you want to get to know our hosts better, or do you want to do something else?" Rose turned to the Doctor to find him working on tying his bowtie.

The Doctor turned to her, and he stared. His mouth fell open slightly. The Doctor walked forward and placed his hands on Rose's shoulders. Sucking in a breath, the Doctor whispered his response against Rose's forehead. "Something else, if you'd be willing." Rose gasped against his neck, causing him to shiver. "Rose. Let me kiss you again."

Without thinking, Rose nodded, and the Doctor's lips descended on hers. The Doctor's arms crushed Rose to him, and Rose's hands nested in the Doctor's hair. For that moment, and that moment only, Rose was still a nineteen year old girl who had just come onto the TARDIS and the Doctor was his younger selves. And for that moment, everything was perfect.

A knock at their door knocked them out of their blissful paradise. Rose had to pull herself away from the Doctor, who attempted to prevent her from ending the kiss. Understanding that it would probably look like they had spent the entire afternoon intimately with one another but not caring one lick about it, Rose told Craig to come in.

"I can't find Sophie," Craig spat, clearly panicked. "She should be here by now! Can you help me find her?"

Reluctantly, the Doctor and Rose untangled themselves from one another. "Yeah," Rose replied. The Doctor had already headed out the door. His eyes fixated on what looked like a pair of pink keys that could not have been Craig's. They were in the door to the lower level where Craig lived, meaning that Sophie had probably gone upstairs.

The Doctor pointed at the keys, and Craig exclaimed loudly, "Oh, my God! Sophie!" The Doctor walked up the stairs, but something told Rose not to go with him.

Upstairs, there was what appeared to be a TARDIS console, and a woman was being dragged towards it. Instinctively, the Doctor scanned it. Hastily, he read the results. "It wants someone with ambition, a desire to leave. Don't let it get me," the Doctor said, but the light that had attacked Sophie now came and attacked him, dragging him towards one of the many controls. "Craig, if you have no desire to leave, then put your hand on that circle."

Craig shook his head. "I want to go wherever Sophie goes, and she wants to leave." Craig walked over to Sophie, and he clutched her to him, crying. "Where's Alfie?"

"At his nanny's," Sophie replied, patting Craig's back. Craig sighed, and Sophie smiled.

The Doctor cried out, and he forcefully attempted to drag his hand away. The console was attacking the Doctor because he wanted to leave. There was no solution other than for the Doctor to think of all the reasons to stay. The Doctor gasped, biting his lip as he was dragged closer to the control.

If he stayed here, he could have a normal life with Rose. He could grow old, get married, have a family.

The console's grip on the Doctor weakened. The Doctor squinted.

If he stayed here, he would be able to have the normal life he never had, the life he wanted.

The console released it's grip entirely, and with the thoughts of why he wanted to stay drifting through his mind, he put his hand on one of the controls. The console began to spark. A moment later, it had caught on fire.

"Out! Out!" the Doctor shouted, ushering Sophie and Craig out the door and down the stairs. Craig and Sophie ran out of the building, but the Doctor ran back into the lower level to find Rose.

"Doctor!" Rose called, running to the door of the apartment. She crashed into the Doctor, who pulled her back out of the entire house. Panting from the smoke, Rose told the Doctor a terrible piece of news. "That was no mold on Craig's ceiling. That was the Pandorica breaking into this time."

The Doctor's eyes widened, and he turned to Rose. He forced his hands onto Rose's shoulders and pulled her to him. He let his lips ghost over Rose's ear. "Then where is the Dalek?"


	9. Chapter Nine: The End of Time Itself

"The Dalek wasn't with the Pandorica," Rose told the Doctor, frowning. She turned to look at the Doctor. "So it has to be around here somewhere, breaking into this time." Rose and the Doctor separated, still holding hands, and ferally looked for the Dalek while staying put.

"It's not here," the Doctor realized. He looked up at the burning house, guilt plaguing his gaze. Rose patted the Doctor's back with her free hand. "Where is it?"

Rose grimaced, in a mood foul enough to rival that of the Doctor. "Around somewhere. The Daleks would not just give up their newest secret weapon to their greatest enemies, would they?"

The Doctor shook his head, breathing out roughly. "Can you do anything about the burning house?" The Doctor inched closer to Rose, not wanting her to leave his side for even a moment.

"Yeah, give me a tick," Rose replied, smiling. The Doctor sighed out in relief, and his eyes closed. Rose began to glow, and the Doctor was forced to release her hand. Suddenly, the house was back to normal. Even the anomalous second floor was gone, leaving the house no different from any other. Rose ceased to glow, and she grinned at the Doctor. "You coming?"

The Doctor nodded and grabbed her hand, allowing her to pull him into the house. Craig and Sophie looked at them but said nothing. Rose and the Doctor went to the living room where Rose had seen the Pandorica.

The Pandorica was still there. The Pandorica seemingly glowed in the sunlight coming from the window, the green design on the side lighting up. Rose glared at it, her eyes lighting up in her attempt to see what the Pandorica was for. There was a shield protecting the Pandorica, and when Rose's mind hit it, she doubled over, clutching her stomach.

The Doctor looked at her in concern, his arm wrapping around her shoulders and holding her to him. "You alright?"

Rose looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah. It's just shielded." She stood up and leaned into the Doctor's touch. The Doctor couldn't help the slight smile that spread across his face. There was a screech behind them, and both the Doctor and Rose spun around. Rose's eyes widened, and both she and the Doctor tried to get in front of the other for the other's protection.

The Doctor won just as the Dalek fully appeared. He frowned, stretching out his hands to test whether or not there would be any more visitors. There were more visitors. Three more Dalek visitors, to be precise, and they were arranged in such a way that there would be no way for the Doctor and Rose to escape.

"THE DOCTOR AND THE WOLF ARE SENTENCED TO AN ETERNITY IN THE PANDORICA AND ERASED FROM TIME," one Dalek intoned, its metallic voice sending a shiver down the Doctor's spine. Rose clasped his hand and stroked her thumb across the back of it. She stepped forward to stand beside the Doctor. The Doctor kept his hand out in front of Rose, who grabbed the hand and pushed it down so that it was between them.

"This is what you've come to?" the Doctor taunted, glaring at the lead Dalek. "The Daleks? Erase us and you erase half the universe and yourselves!" The Doctor sniffed and stepped forward.

"Erase either of us from time and the universe no longer happens," Rose whispered, her eyes suddenly widening in fear. She clutched the Doctor's hand like a vise and stepped closer to him.

"THE DOCTOR AND THE BAD WOLF WILL ENTER THE PANDORICA!" the lead Dalek cried again in its shrill voice. The Doctor trembled ever so slightly, and he turned his head so that he was looking down at Rose.

Rose attempted to call her powers, but something prevented her from using them. Rose's eyes widened. "Something is dampening my powers," she whispered urgently, and the Doctor's eyes widened slightly.

"Are you sure? The Pandorica was only shielded," the Doctor whispered in kind. Rose nodded hastily, her mouth open slightly. The tips of the Doctor's lips pointed downward in a frown.

"The Daleks must have seen my powers and attempted some rudimentary dampening field," Rose muttered, her voice only loud enough for the Doctor to hear.

"Can you —" the Doctor began to ask, but he was cut off by Rose, who figured out what his question would be on her own.

"Overpower it?" Rose finished for him before answering his question with a negative. "We can't get out of this."

"We'll think of something," the Doctor murmured, pulling Rose to him in a hug. He breathed in the scent of hair, feeling that if these were his last moments, he couldn't have thought of a better way to go.

"PHYSICAL AFFECTIONS WILL CEASE," one of the Daleks said, its voice conveying irritation. Rose spun around in the Doctor's grasp so that she was facing the Daleks. She glared at them.

"Why? What do you gain from this?" Rose queried, her tone containing a touch of fear. The Doctor's nonexistent eyebrows flew halfway up his forehead. She leaned back into the Doctor, trying to gain what comfort she could from him.

"CRACKS IN TIME HAVE EMERGED DUE TO THE TIME WAR'S REEMERGENCE. THE CRACKS TAKE INFERIOR SPECIES AND SUCK THEM INTO THE TIME WAR. ERASING THE DOCTOR AND THE WOLF WILL END THIS," the Dalek claimed, its voice inspiring fear into the Doctor's hearts.

Rose bit her lip. "This can be stopped. It won't end if we're erased. Jettison the Pandorica into the cracks instead," Rose suggested, glancing up at the Doctor's face.

The Daleks turned to face one another, and Rose smiled up at the Doctor. "You would have us be thrown into the Time War?" the Doctor muttered incredulously, fear and doubt creeping into his tone.

Rose nodded without hesitation. "Better that than never having existed, yeah?" she pointed out, but the Doctor could tell that she was quite afraid. The Doctor tightened his grip around her torso. Rose released one of the Doctor's hands from her own and moved her hand to cup his cheek. The Doctor shivered.

He leaned into her touch, and he smiled softly. Almost timidly, he leaned down and touched his lips to Rose's. After that, it were like they were two different poles of magnets. The Doctor leaned into Rose, who only pulled him closer. The Doctor stepped forward, leaning Rose back. Rose moaned into the kiss, and the Doctor growled. It was not fully love that fueled their kiss; instead, it was fear, desperation, loneliness, longing, and adrenaline all encompassed in one action.

"YOU WILL STEP BACK FROM EACH OTHER," a Dalek reprimanded them. They stepped back from one another. Rose was flushed, and her hair was disheveled. She straightened her shirt. The tips of the Doctor's ears were pink, and he quickly straightened his bowtie as he reluctantly stepped away from Rose. Both the Doctor and Rose cast the Daleks their most formidable glares. "THE DOCTOR AND THE WOLF WILL ENTER THE PANDORICA."

The Doctor grimaced and took his first steps towards the Pandorica. Rose walked a little bit faster so that she could catch up and grasp his hand. She didn't make it that far. Her hands both began to glow and suck in light. Her mouth formed the word "no", but it was too late. She began to fade from existence. A scream was torn from her throat, but it did no good; she had vanished.

A tear formed in each of the Doctor's eyes, but he blinked both away as he stepped into the Pandorica. The Daleks activated something in the Pandorica's controls, causing the now locked prison to be sent into the cracks caused by the reemergence of the Time War.

ΘΣβΩΡΩΑΠ

Rose finally finished screaming when she appeared in a universe that was both familiar and hated by her. She recognized the street very well; back in the short time that she had lived in Pete's World, she had gotten a flat on this street. Rented the flat; she hadn't bought it. She hadn't honestly believed that she would be there that long, and she had been right. Her powers hadn't come long after the death of the Metacrisis Doctor nine days after they had been dumped in this universe. Rose growled and glared at her surroundings. She sniffed, attempting to figure out the date. In doing so, she realized this was one of the last days that she had not had her powers. Realization dawned on her. She gasped, scanning the streets for a past version of herself.

There was none. Rose looked at the building she used to live in, and at that very moment, the door opened, and a younger Rose Tyler stepped out. Older Rose's breath caught, and taking care, she walked over to where her younger self was.

"Rose," the elder Rose said, her tone solemn. In the last few minutes, she had realized exactly what this day was. This was the day she got her powers, and she had realized how exactly it must have happened.

The younger Rose turned to face her older self in surprise, not quite realizing that the woman in front of her was a future version of herself. "Who're you?" Younger Rose backed up a couple of steps, preparing to make like the Doctor and run.

Older Rose realized that in her jump, her hood had managed to come up and cover her hair. Hastily, she pulled down her hood and smiled at her younger self. "I'm you, a you from a distant future."

"Looks a bit distant," the younger Rose laughed, her body becoming less tense as she relaxed. The older Rose's smile broadened at her younger self's comment. "You look the same age." The younger Rose's eyes widened as she realized that with some discomfort. "How old are you?"

Older Rose's smile faded, and she grimaced. She allowed her age to show through the gravity and light in her eyes. "I'm nine-hundred eight years old." The younger Rose gasped in shock and covered her mouth with her hand.

"How?" the younger Rose asked when she recovered slightly from her shock. Older Rose allowed her eyes to glow slightly with the power of both the Void and the Time Vortex. The younger Rose gaped at the elder Rose, her eyes wide. "What is that?" There was a nervousness to her tone that made the older Rose feel slightly guilty, but she also knew that this had to happen.

"I'm going to give you these powers, Rose, and they're the powers of the Time Vortex and Void combined. I'm sorry for what you'll go through; I lived through them, and I'm sorry." A tear welled in the older Rose's left eye, and it slid down her cheek without leaving a track. The younger Rose realized what had to happen, and she backed away, shaking her head slightly. The elder Rose stepped forward and reached out her hands, which quickly landed on the younger Rose's temples.

Gold and black swirled down the older Rose's arms and collected at where Rose's hands touched her younger self's temples. Once all of the powers had gathered there, they swirled down the younger Rose, completely encasing her form in golden and black light. The younger Rose gasped, and she went limp as if she were about to collapse as soon as the powers had fully sunken into her flesh. She went stiff, and then she flew backwards, the light suddenly swirling around her, and her hair began to shift its color slowly. When the younger Rose opened her eyes, they were the golden-black hue of her older self.

The older Rose's arms fell to her side, and she looked up at her younger self. She almost felt fear at the sight, and she realized that was how most people probably felt when the saw her. Her younger self looked to be the avenging goddess that she would one day become.

In a dual-toned voice, the young Rose spoke, "This is not a time for endings, Rose, Wolf, Death. You shall join the Doctor in the Time War." The older Rose's eyes widened as she felt herself becoming fainter in this universe, and by that she was so stunned that she didn't even contemplate the dual heartbeat that now tattooed itself in her chest. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she found herself in the High Council of the Time Lords, just after they had been sentenced to remain in the Time War.

The younger Rose collapsed, the powers no longer under her own command. The golden-black glow of her powers surrounded her, ferrying her to her original universe. When she woke up, she found herself in the same room as the man she now recognized as the Eighth Doctor, and there was an intricate box on a crate. The younger Rose walked over and sat on it. The man whirled around. The younger Rose's eyes flashed, and the TARDIS containing the Tenth Doctor and his human Rose started materializing in the War Council of Gallifrey.

ΘΣβΩΡΩΑΠ

The Pandorica flew into the crack, and quickly, the crack did not bleed the inverted time energy as it claimed the Doctor. This time, it was the Doctor entering the crack as he was meant to do. The crack sealed, and the Doctor was in the Time War. The Pandorica disintegrated as its work was finished.

ΘΣβΩΡΩΑΠ

Amy and Rory began to panic as they realized that the TARDIS was flying without the Doctor or Rose to control it. Amy and Rory dashed madly around the console in an unspoken agreement to find any button, switch, lever, or anything that would stop the TARDIS's flying. The TARDIS shook, and Amy stumbled. She caught herself, but it was too late. Her hand had landed on a button. The TARDIS shook, discarding her exterior shell, which was sucked into the crack along with the Pandorica. The TARDIS herself landed on Craig and Sophie's street.


	10. Chapter Ten: The Moment Awaits

The younger Rose collapsed, the powers no longer under her own command. The golden-black glow of her powers surrounded her, ferrying her to her original universe. When she woke up, she found herself in the same room as the man she now recognized as the Eighth Doctor, and there was an intricate box on a crate. The younger Rose walked over and sat on it. The man whirled around. The younger Rose's eyes flashed, and the TARDIS containing the Tenth Doctor and his human Rose started materializing in the War Council of Gallifrey.

The young Rose, the Bad Wolf Rose, looked at the Eighth Doctor and smiled. Eight smiled at Rose a little unsurely, making it clear that he had not expected Bad Wolf Rose to appear.

"Who are you?" Eight asked, looking Rose up and down. He then realized that Rose was sitting on the box, the Moment. Eight made a strangled sound in the back of his throat. He stretched out a hand, and Rose looked up into his eyes as she took his hand.

Rose's eyes slashed with the gold of the Time Vortex as she quickly checked if it was okay for her to reveal her name. It would cause no trouble to the progression of time. "Rose, Rose Tyler. Though, right now I suppose you could call me Bad Wolf."

Eight's eyes visibly widened as he recalled the legends of the Bad Wolf that he had learned on Gallifrey. He pulled Rose and shook her hand before attempting to escort her out of the door. She quickly turned into a gas as soon as he tried, and she turned back into a solid as soon as he stopped.

Rose gasped in surprise at Eight's hand going through her, and Eight just stared at her dumbly. "What?" Eight asked, and Rose idly wondered if the word was said due to temporal feedback.

Rose shook her head, biting her lower lip. "That's new. Anyway, that box right there, that's the Moment?" Rose reached up and stroked Eight's cheek gently as she spoke her question. Eight flinched as Rose mentioned the superweapon that was in the hut with them. Eight averted his gaze to the floor of the shack. Rose used her hand on Eight's cheek to force him to look at her. Rose didn't need Eight to answer; his face said it all. "Doctor, I'm sorry."

Eight nodded slightly, and Rose pulled him into a tight hug. Eight seemed to be trying to bite back sobs, and Rose quickly stood up on her toes and kissed his cheek.

There was a bang that came from outside the shack, and there was the Dalek cry of "EXTERMINATE!" that immediately followed. Rose released Eight, but she clutched his hand like a vise.

"Run!" Eight instructed, and Rose had no need of being told twice. Rose and Eight were about to dash out of the shack when Rose realized that neither of them possessed the Moment. She released Eight's hand and snatched the Moment up. A moment later, she joined him outside the shack.

Rose and Eight glanced around, trying to locate the offending Dalek. When they realized that it was not nearby, they looked at each other in silent conversation. It took mere seconds before they ran away from the shack.

"Where's the TARDIS?" Rose asked when she decided they were far enough away from the shack. Eight grimaced, and pointed in the direction from whence they came. Rose opened her mouth slightly in dismay. "Ah."

"Yeah," Eight agreed solemnly, his eyes showing the weight of the War. "The nearest city is Arcadia, named after the planet that fell earlier in the War." There was a haunted look in Eight's eyes, and Rose rubbed her thumb over his hand.

"The Fall of Arcadia," Rose breathed, her eyes flashing gold as she recognized the name. Eight nodded, a tear forming in his eye.

"I couldn't save them," Eight whispered, his voice hoarse with untold sorrow. Rose's eyes glowed the golden hue that signalled that her powers were active, and she wrapped her arms around Eight, making sure not to press the button for the Moment to be activated.

Rose and Eight disappeared from where they were near the hut, and the re-materialized in the Gallifreyan capitol. Surreptitiously, Rose stared up at the sky. She froze as she recognized the ships from above. Eight pulled Rose to him and hugged her tightly in an attempt to comfort himself. "It will be alright, but you're going to have to be the one to end this." Fear flashed in Eight's eyes, but he relinquished his grasp on Rose nonetheless.

"Come on; let's get somewhere with more cover," Eight whispered, pulling Rose along behind him into a small Gallifreyan House. Rose held out the Moment, and taking a deep breath in, Eight took it from her. He placed his hand on the red button that would cause its detonation.

ΘΣβΩΡΩΑΠ

In a dual-toned voice, the young Rose spoke, "This is not a time for endings, Rose, Wolf, Death. You shall join the Doctor in the Time War." The older Rose's eyes widened as she felt herself becoming fainter in this universe, and by that she was so stunned that she didn't even contemplate the dual heartbeat that now tattooed itself in her chest. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she found herself in the High Council of the Time Lords, just after they had been sentenced to remain in the Time War.

"What?" Rose asked herself quietly as she looked around. "How? Why?" She groaned as she observed her surroundings thoroughly. She was next to an older woman with brown and silver hair. The woman was kneeling on the ground, a forlorn look in her eyes. Rose placed her hand on the woman's shoulder, confused. Had she still had her powers, she could have read the timeline, but now, that was no possibility. "Ma'am, what's wrong?"

The woman shook her head. "We're doomed. We've been sentenced to die in the Time Lock." Rose frowned, shaking her head slightly.

"No, I'll get you out of here. You don't seem bad. What's your name?" Rose asked, furrowing her brow. She rested her hand on the woman's shoulder. Rose smiled gently and helped pull the woman to her feet.

"The Doctor's mother," the woman replied, figuring that if a strange woman were helping her that said woman would have a connection to her son. The woman glanced around as she stood up, still wary that the Time Lords would execute her.

"Oh." Rose was silent for a moment before any more words egressed her mouth. "Do you have a name?" Rose pressed, wanting something to call the mother of the man she loved.

The woman read Rose's facial expression, something in her eyes lighting up in some form of joy. A smile almost graces the woman's lips. "You could call me Mum, but some call me Penelope." Rose blushed slightly when the woman allowed her to call her "Mum". Now that it had been offered, there was no way she could not.

"Mum," Rose said, testing the term. "Alright then. How are we going to get out of here?" Rose eyed the battle that was going on before her. Rassilon, at least that was who she inferred the man in front of her to be, was losing ground against another man, who Rose inferred to be the Master. The Master had blue energy coming from his hands, and Rose was unable to identify the energy. "The Time of the Moment is almost upon us," Rose whispered, and had anyone been looking, that person could have seen the faintest of a gold sheen in her eyes. "This must be stopped. We must reach Arcadia."

Penelope shrugged before stepping out from where she was amongst the Time Lords and tugged Rose along behind her. Rose eyed the two fighting men, evaluating if either were someone that she should save. Penelope shook her head at Rose, but Rose failed to listen. She grabbed the Master's wrist and pulled him from his position. He turned to glower at her, raising his other hand to strike her with the blue energy. The blue energy came pouring out of the Master's hand in a torrent, and Rose's eyes glowed a golden color, but it did not spread anywhere else. Rose cried out, her eyes wide as she fell. Unconsciousness overtook her.

Penelope glared at the Master, her lips pinched and her eyes narrowed. "She would have helped you," Penelope ground out, her voice cold. She had no sympathy for the man that had tormented her son for most of their lives.

"She was a friend of the Doctor!" the Master hissed, his flesh disappearing for a moment to reveal his skeleton. The Master's eyes blazed with anger that seemed to be waiting for precisely the right moment to strike.

"We must find the Doctor," Penelope insisted, her voice as cold as her eyes. "He is in possession of the Moment, and he is in the city of Arcadia." Penelope stared at the Master, realizing that now he would be her only help.

"Neither of us have a TARDIS," the Master snapped, returning Penelope's glare. He glanced around as if he were looking for a TARDIS. There was none. "How do you plan on getting there? If anyone's going to activate the Moment," the Master laughed at this, "it's going to be me."

Penelope raised her eyebrows at him, unimpressed. "War Council. Now." Penelope sniffed, shooing the Master along in front of her before he had time to object. Penelope ignored the Master's profuse protests, and within minutes, they were in the War Council.

ΘΣβΩΡΩΑΠ

The younger Rose's eyes flashed, and the TARDIS containing the Tenth Doctor and his human Rose started materializing in the War Council of Gallifrey.

Rose Tyler and the Tenth Doctor were running frantically around the TARDIS console, avoiding the sparks bursting forth from various places on the console. Ten was making an attempt to reclaim control of his TARDIS, and Rose was following all of Ten's orders to help. Their resistance was futile.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Rose asked, wondering if Ten had any clue where they were going. Ten shook his head, frowning at the scanner. Words written in Circular Gallifreyan appeared on the scanner, and Ten's eyes widened and darkened.

"What?" Ten growled, banging the side of the scanner with his hand. The same results appeared, and Ten stared at them for a moment. He spun around to look at Rose, his jaw slack and a desolate expression on his face.

"Where are we?" Rose questioned, her eyes wide as she set her hand on Ten's shoulder. Ten flashed a grateful smile in her direction and took a deep breath. Rose inched closer to Ten, moving between him and the scanner. "What's wrong."

Ten sighed, and whispered, "We're on the War Room. On Gallifrey?" Rose's gaze softened further, her heart reaching out to Ten.

"And that's. . .bad?" Rose asked, somewhat surprised. Ten nodded, grimacing. Rose reached her hand up and stroked his sideburn. Ten leaned into her touch slightly. Rose smirked slightly.

"Very bad. We're in the Time War," Ten explained, and Rose's eyes widened, comprehending that they were probably in more danger than they ever had been before. Ten pulled Rose to him, glaring at the ceiling as he held her. A few minutes later, Ten informed them that they really ought to head outside.

Rose and Ten stepped out of the TARDIS into a room. In the center of the room, there was a table with holograms all above it. A man on the other side of the table groaned when he saw Ten. "The Doctor," the man hissed, sharing a look with another one of the Time Lords in the room.

"Hello to you too, General," Ten exclaimed, a false smile plastered to his face. Rose nudged him with her shoulder, and the General eyed them appraisingly. Rose waved, a smile on her face despite the nervousness gnawing at her stomach.

"Hi, I'm Rose, Rose Tyler," Rose said as she smiled and waved. She stepped closer to Ten.

"We don't bite, Wolf," the General laughed, and Rose relaxed almost instantly. Ten reached down and clasped her hand and squeezed it gently.

"Younger me has the Moment?" Ten asked after a short moment of silence. The General nodded, a look of fear on his face. "Ah." Ten turned to look at Rose. "We have to leave. Now."

"You can't just leave, now that you're here!" one of the other Time Lords exclaimed, staring at Ten incredulously.

Ten sighed. "No, I don't think my TARDIS would allow it." Rose looked at the Doctor, alarmed. "And it's the last day." Ten's voice cracked, despite the fact that it was hoarse.

"Is there anything we can do?" Rose asked, hesitating slightly before responding. Ten shook his head, and the General could do nothing but stare at him sadly. Rose just stared at Ten. "Doctor, there has to be something."

A second later, two people burst into the War Room, one of them carrying an unconscious third figure. Ten's jaw dropped, and he exclaimed, "What?!" Rose shook her head in amusement at the Doctor. "What?!"

"Penelope!" the General exclaimed, his eyes lighting up in joy. He noticed the other figure, and his eyes clouded. "Master." The General's eyes narrowed as he noticed the figure Penelope was carrying. Ten and young Rose also noticed the figure, and Rose gaped.

"But that's me!" young Rose exclaimed, looking at the Time Lady Rose in something akin to shock. "And I'm here and unconscious." Young Rose walked towards her future self and stared at the face and hair in an almost reverent manner.

"Doctor, we have to get to your younger self with the Moment," Penelope explained, staring at her son. Ten's eyes widened even as he nodded, and he gulped visibly. "You need to use your TT Capsule to get there; there is no other way." Young Rose smiled encouragingly at Ten, her eyes wide with hope.

"TARDIS, Mother," Ten corrected with a roll of his eyes. "You are too old-fashioned." Young Rose stood up and walked over to Ten's side and bumped him with her shoulder. "If we're going to go —"

"— then we ought to get going," Young Rose finished for him, and they both laughed. Young Rose gestured towards the TARDIS with her head. "Well, come on then! Get in there!" Penelope smiled and dipped her head in thanks, but the Master grinned widely. Young Rose quickly followed behind Penelope and the Master, but Ten quickly picked up the Time Lady Rose. When he felt her double heartbeat, he well-nigh dropped her. His eyes widened, but he carried her into the TARDIS without question.

"She's a Time Lord," Ten muttered aloud to himself, his voice quiet enough so that none of the others heard. Hastily, he set to work piloting the TARDIS to where he knew Eight to be. He sent a glare at the Master, warning him not to interfere. If he ignored the warning, there would be dire consequences.

The TARDIS materialized in the house Bad Wolf Rose and Eight were in at the very same moment another figure appeared.


	11. Chapter Eleven: Swale and Swell

Rose and Eight disappeared from where they were near the hut, and the re-materialized in the Gallifreyan capitol. Surreptitiously, Rose stared up at the sky. She froze as she recognized the ships from above. Eight pulled Rose to him and hugged her tightly in an attempt to comfort himself. “It will be alright, but you’re going to have to be the one to end this.” Fear flashed in Eight’s eyes, but he relinquished his grasp on Rose nonetheless.

“Come on; let’s get somewhere with more cover,” Eight whispered, pulling Rose along behind him into a small Gallifreyan House. Rose held out the Moment, and taking a deep breath in, Eight took it from her. He placed his hand on the red button that would cause its detonation.

The TARDIS materialized in the house Bad Wolf Rose and Eight were in at the very same moment another figure appeared.

Eight relinquished his grasp on the Moment in surprise when he heard the tell-tale sound of a TARDIS appearing. Beside him, he heard a gasp. Both Eight and Bad Wolf Rose whirled around and stared at the new figure. It was a moment later that the Master, Penelope,   
human Rose, and Ten carrying Time Lady Rose strode out of the TARDIS to see Eight, Bad Wolf Rose, and the new figure.

The new figure glanced around himself, a gobsmacked expression on his features. “Oh, look, it’s you,” he growled, eyeing the Eighth Doctor. He pouted slightly. “It’s Eight!”

Eight frowned at the newcomer in confusion, glaring at him slightly, despite his kind nature. “And who would you be?”

The newcomer glared at Eight before turning to Ten and scowling further. “And if it isn’t sand shoes!” Ten also turned to glare at the newcomer, his glower much more potent and dramatic than Eight’s.

The newcomer then noticed Bad Wolf Rose, whom had not been noticed by the youngest Rose. “Rose?” The newcomer glanced up and down Bad Wolf Rose, his non-existent eyebrows knitted into a frown of concentration. He realized that this Rose was younger; her eyes carried not the same weight, and her hair was longer. Bad Wolf Rose nodded, and youngest Rose stepped out from behind the Tenth Doctor. “Rose?” the newcomer asked again, even more surprised to see a young, innocent, fully human version of the woman he had come to know — and care very, very much in a not-so-platonic way for — again. The younger Rose smiled at him, her grin melting his hearts. Finally, the newcomer noticed the Time Lady Rose, who was unconscious in Ten’s arms. The newcomer’s glare immediately came to focus on the Master, his green eyes sharp with anger.

The newcomer ran over to Ten, his eyes hard in his worry for his beloved Rose. He cautiously extracted Rose from Ten’s eyes and held her to his chest. She felt colder than she should have, and she was a bit more pallid than she had been before. “Rose,” he mumbled, his voice muffled due to the fact he was pressing his mouth against the crown of Time Lady Rose’s head.

Time Lady Rose groaned, her eyes opening as she did so. She moved slightly, hesitantly beginning to wrap her arms around the newcomer, whom she identified as the Eleventh Doctor. “Doctor?” Rose asked warmly, as if she hadn’t just been unconscious a moment earlier. “Are you alright?”

“I am now,” Eleven replied, his voice hoarse as he returned Time Lady Rose’s embrace. “What happened to you?”

Rose shrugged, still leaning against the Eleven’s chest. “I tried to drag him away from that man with a gauntlet. I’m fine now though.” Rose felt Eleven’s muscles tense as he attempted to move towards the Master. The youngest Rose looked on in awe, her eyes wide at the fact there were two future versions of her there. She was comforted by the fact that the Doctor still seemed close to her.

As soon as the Doctor’s intentions towards the Master were revealed, both Time Lady Rose and Penelope moved in between Eleven and the Master. “Get out of my way,” Eleven hissed, his teeth clenched. Time Lady Rose shook her head, and Penelope set her hand down gently on Rose’s shoulder.

“No, Doctor,” Time Lady Rose scolded the Doctor, the faintest hint of gold in her eyes. “He deserves a chance to live his life just like everyone else.”

Bad Wolf Rose came up behind Time Lady Rose and nodded her agreement. “A life without the drums plaguing his mind.” Bad Wolf Rose’s eyes glowed, and she stretched her hand out on front of her. She clenched her fist, and a blue light surrounded the Master as Bad Wolf Rose restored his life source and removed the drums from his head.

The Master sank to his knees, curled up in a little ball. Young Rose, always caring about others, walked over to him and put her hand on the Master’s shoulder. Ten flinched, his muscles tensing. “You alright?”

The Master nodded, scowling slightly at the ground, his face pensive as he contemplated his new existence. Rose smiled down at him, a soft smile on her face.

Bad Wolf Rose looked to the young Rose and to the Tenth Doctor, a frown on her face as she turned the golden color of the Time Vortex. “It is time for you to go; your purpose here is done, and you will go back to your proper time without recollection of these events.” Young Rose backed up to stand next to Ten, and Bad Wolf Rose waved her hand, and golden light consumed Ten, Rose, and their TARDIS. The next thing they would know, they were in the console room of the TARDIS, which was set on the randomizer.

Time Lady Rose knelt down next to the Master, wrapping her arm around his shoulder. Quietly, she spoke, sadness and bitterness lining her voice, “I would have let her stay and comfort you, but I didn’t control those powers then. I was so easily controlled.” She swallowed, a grimace on her face. Her gaze flickered over to the Moment, a look of hatred on her face.

“You remember this,” the Master realized, his voice betraying his slight surprise. Rose was about to nod “No matter. I will prevent the Doctor from using the Moment, and I shall activate the Final Sanction!” The Master cackled, his eyes shining. Time Lady Rose shook her head, recoiling. While her attention was on the Master, Eight had wandered over to the Moment, and put his hand on the red button.

“No!” Time Lady Rose shrieked, unsure of whether her dismay was more aimed at the Master’s statement or the fact the button on the Moment had been pushed. The entire building echoed with power enough to make even the most lustful for power tremble at the sheer magnitude of it.

Bad Wolf Rose’s head jerked back, her lips peeled in a silent scream. Lights of pitch black and gold swirled across her body, and then they swirled like a tornado around her, the destroying the house in which they were.

Eleven made to go to Bad Wolf Rose, but Time Lady Rose clutched his hand to stop him. He looked at her anxiously, and he noticed the look of absolute pain written there in alarm. Time Lady Rose shook her head vehemently and motioned for Eleven, Eight, Penelope, and the Master to follow her into Eight’s TARDIS.

Eleven inched closer to Time Lady Rose and protectively wrapped his arms around her. “Will you be alright?” Time Lady Rose understood that he was asking if her past self would be alright, not her present self.

“Not for a long while,” Time Lady Rose replied, her face showing complete honesty. Eleven grasped her in a hug, and Time Lady Rose eagerly returned it. The TARDIS shook violently, threatening to fall over. The Maser grasped at the TARDIS console, eying the different buttons, switches, and levers there a little gleefully. Penelope strode up to him elegantly, despite the night-capsizing TARDIS, and placed her hand on his shoulder, glaring meaningfully at him. The Master pouted but did not meddle with the TARDIS’s settings.

Eleven and Time Lady Rose fell to the floor, never once relinquishing his or her hold on the other. Eight braced himself for the shaking of the TARDIS, and he scrambled towards the doors without anyone’s stopping him. He egressed the TARDIS and walked over to where Bad Wolf Rose was standing on the dying, burning planet of Gallifrey.

Steeling his nerves, Eight walked towards Bad Wolf Rose, absorbing what little of her energy she was unable to redirect away from him. Eight stumbled just as he reached Bad Wolf Rose. Somehow, the sight of the Doctor, even a past one, about to regenerate because of energy that came from from her was enough to shock her out of the destructive control of the Moment.

Tears rolled down Bed Wolf Rose’s face as her powers became more subdued and no longer danced around her as a whirlwind. She gasped and fell to her knees, her eyes closing. Golden light began to swirl around Bad Wolf Rose once more against her will, and she disappeared to a different point in the Last Great Time War, still a distraught mess. It would not be long before she discovered her inability to die permanently.

Eight’s arms raised as if they had a volition all of their own. The golden light of regeneration poured from both them and Eight’s head like a wildfire. There was even the pain to match as his cells all morphed. Eight screams echoed across the dead planet, and once his arms collapsed to his new sides as he finished, he himself collapsed.

As the TARDIS had already stopped shaking, all four of the Time Lords within stepped out to see no more Bad Wolf Rose and to see the Ninth Doctor collapsed there. Eleven and Rose shared a look while the Master grinned before being elbowed by Penelope. Frowning, he brushed off his arm.

The Ninth Doctor woke up with a groan before mumbling, “I’m going to have to forget any of you were here. Bloody fantastic.” A small smile formed on Rose’s face. She reached out her hand and helped Nine up.

“You will, but first, could you give us a lift?” the Eleventh Doctor asked, a hopeful smile on his visage. Nine nodded irritably before leading the way into his TARDIS.

When the others were a tad slow on following him, he growled, “Well, don’t just stand there staring! Come on!” Eleven groaned at his younger self’s grumpiness while Rose smiled nostalgically. Penelope only laughed fondly at her son’s behavior. Once they were inside the TARDIS, Nine grinned. “Right, where are we going?”

“79 Aickman Road,” Rose supplied, remembering where her younger self had sent the Eleventh Doctor’s TARDIS. She cringed, not excited to see Amy and Rory again after their encounter. Eleven looked at her but said nothing.

When they left, it was a quick affair. Rose and the Doctor looked around to see if the crack in the universe was still there but it wasn’t; now the Time War had truly been finished the way it had been meant to. They boarded Eleven’s TARDIS, and from there, they watched as Nine suppressed his memories. A few trips later, Nine would meet a young shopgirl called Rose. When she refused to go with him, he would ask again because somewhere in the depths of his mind, he remembered her.

Once they were on the TARDIS, the Doctor looked to Amy and Rory with a questioning glance to see if they still wished to leave. Wordlessly, Amy nodded and cast her gaze upon Rose. The Doctor frowned, but he nodded nonetheless. The Doctor slowly and reluctantly, as if hoping his two companions would change their minds, piloted the TARDIS to Leadworth.

Amy hugged the Doctor, and in his ear, she whispered, “I’ll miss you, Raggedy man.” As they parted and she strode to the door, she added more loudly, “Come and visit us sometime!” Hand in hand, Amy and Rory began to leave the TARDIS. Before they left, however, Amy bit her lip and turned towards Rose. She stretched out her hand to shake Rose’s, and Rose quickly obliged. “I hope one day we can be friends.”

Rose nodded, a wide grin on her lips. “So do I, but I feel that now is not a good time. You’re right; it’s not good for you to be on a side if you can’t see a difference between it and the side you’re against.” Despite the sadness in Rose’s voice, there was also an understanding. The two women smiled at one another before Amy rejoined Rory and stepped out of the TARDIS with him.

Rose walked over to the Doctor and rested her head on his shoulder. The Doctor leaned his head down so that his lips were almost on Rose’s ear. “River Song said that she would see us again when the Pandorica opens, but she didn’t. Time is changing.”

“It is,” Rose agreed, her voice soft. “Time is changing, but the past still has to happen.” Rose lifted her hand to stroke the Doctor’s cheek. “But there will also be a happier, brighter future. We can never forget that.”

“No, we can’t,” the Doctor whispered, his voice adopting the same quality as Rose’s. The Doctor turned Rose’s head so that her lips were just under his own. A moment later, they were kissing, and neither of them would give a single excuse for it.

Perhaps, one day the past would truly be in the past, but for now, the future was enough for both of them and their friends.


	12. Epilogue: Daybreak in the Witching Hour

The Time War changed everyone in it; some people who once were good became darker, and some came to resemble their enemies. One day, Rose would find that she was no exception to this rule.

With every battle Rose fought, a little bit of who she was before slipped away. Throughout the years, she found herself called many things: The Bad Wolf, Death, The Morrigan, and many others. She herself began to call herself those as well, scarcely believing in her own innate goodness any longer.

Hope was something that became lost to her. She became darker, more and more of a warrior. It was during that time that Rose discovered her inability to die. At some point in the War, the Time Lords resurrected the Lord President Rassilon. He coerced the Time Lords into harnessing her power, and thus, the Moment was created.

There was a short lull in the Time War a few days before the end, and the lack of danger had the powers of the vortex pull Rose away from the War. It would be hard to say whether the years to come would prove better or worse than her time in the Last Great Time War.

The Vortex and the Void began to pull her from universe to universe, and there was no constant but the fact that everything was always changing. Through the years she became even darker, and she didn’t care what happened to her enemies except that they were vanquished. There were times she didn’t care if innocents got hurt, but those times were relatively few and far between.

In total, about nine-hundred years passed, and Rose lost the one most important thing about her: herself. But then, everything would change.

 

ΘΣβΩΡΩΑΠ

 

Rose appeared in a flash of golden and black light. Her eyes narrowed at the sight that was before her eyes; it was a Dalek, something she had long ago learned to despise. Somewhere, in the farthest reaches of her mind, she was aware of the girl behind her. If she payed attention, she would have known that the name of the girl was Endra. She acknowledged Endra with what passed for a smile from her in those days. “Run!” Rose commanded Endra, her voice dark and practically the sound of despair and doom. Endra ran.

Rose turned back to the creature, scowling at it, her eyes blazing in the depths of her anger. She hissed, unable to deny the hatred the welled within her to the point where she was no longer recognizable. “Dalek! I name you Dalek as Davros, your creator, dubbed you so very many years ago in a different universe!” A smirk wormed its way onto Rose’s face.

“YOU ARE THE ABOMINATION MENTIONED IN THE ACCOUNTS OF THE EMPEROR'S DEMISE!” the Dalek screeched, its metallic voice further marring the night. Rose’s smirk faltered not.

She drew back the hood of her cloak, the power from her eyes illuminating the night. “Abomination?” she queried, already knowing the answer. “”I named myself the Bad Wolf. I spell death to all those I despise.” She opened her palms, and gold and black like cascaded from her fingers. “Dare to defy me.”

The Dalek recoiled, its mechanics echoing in the forest in a shrill screech. “YOU CANNOT DESTROY THE DALEKS!” the Dalek protested in vain, sounding almost frightened.

Rose shook her head, her lips curving further upwards still. The very bottom of the Dalek began to be torn apart into atoms. Something about the sight gave Rose a strange thrill, one of a mixture of hatred and sadistic joy. Golden and black lights continued to swirl up the Dalek, causing it to scream in pain, the pain of being ripped into atoms while still being alive. It was agony for the Dalek, but Rose enjoyed it. Whatever compassion she had once possessed was gone like a whisper on the wind. The Dalek’s scream died as the creature inside stopped existing. At long last, he Dalek completely vanished, and it was a mercy. Rose allowed a bark of hollow laughter to burst forth from her lips.

Rose felt a tug in her gut, indicating her time in that universe, time, and space was over. Slowly, yet at the same time suddenly, the black and golden light swirled around Rose as she gradually dematerialized. The absence of everything enveloped Rose as she passed through the Void.

In the next instant, Rose found herself in Venice in the 16th Century, and soon, she would meet the Doctor and slowly begin to heal.


End file.
